From today, no council in England can turn away a homeless care leaver by calling it their own fault. The government has already published every council's allocation for three years, on a page that says two of those years are still to be confirmed.
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
In short. From 30 September 2026, section 9 of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 stops councils in England finding a care leaver under 25 "intentionally homeless" [1], commenced by a statutory instrument made in July [2]. MHCLG's guidance says the funding for councils' extra costs in 2027-28 and 2028-29 will be "confirmed and communicated in due course" [3]. The annex table on the same page already states that funding, to the penny, for all three years and all 296 English local authorities, in a column headed "28/20" [4]. Four documented mistakes: three stars.
A duty that starts today
Section 9 of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 amends section 191 of the Housing Act 1996, the provision that lets a council refuse the full homelessness duty to someone judged to have made themselves homeless on purpose. The new subsections carve out two groups entirely: a "relevant child" within the meaning of section 23A(2) of the Children Act 1989, and a "former relevant child" under section 23C(1) of that Act "and aged under 25" [1]. In plain terms, a young person who has been in council care cannot be turned away from full homelessness support on the grounds that their own actions caused it, up to the age of 25. The section received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026 but was not in force until a commencement order fixed the date. That order, the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 (Commencement No. 2) (England) Regulations 2026, brings section 9 into force "on 30th September 2026" [2], alongside the local offer for care leavers and a new information-sharing duty. Today is not a preview of this policy. It is the day it starts.
MHCLG's guidance page confirms the same date and adds the money side: "The government has amended homelessness legislation to prevent care leavers in scope of the corporate parenting duty from being found intentionally homeless. This was introduced through the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 and comes into effect on 30 September 2026" [3]. It goes on: "MHCLG has allocated new burdens funding to cover any costs associated with supporting care leavers in scope of this exemption. The allocations are published on this page" [3].
The claims, tested
| The claim | What the published record shows | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| "For 2027 to 2028 and 2028 to 2029, payment details will be confirmed and communicated in due course" [3] | The annex table published on the same page, same day, already states an exact figure to the penny for every one of 296 English local authorities for both years: Birmingham £365,110 for 2027-28 and £329,438 for 2028-29, Newham £218,725 and £197,355, down to Isles of Scilly's £92 and £83 [4] | The amounts are not unconfirmed; the page never says what "payment details" means if not the amount |
| "The allocations are published on this page" [3] | The figures are published; how they were calculated is not. No formula, no care leaver headcount, no data source is stated anywhere in either the summary or the annex, and no grand total is given: adding all 296 rows gives £26,782,088 across the three years, a sum MHCLG itself does not publish [4] | Numbers published, method and total concealed |
| The table states each council's 2028-29 allocation | Every one of the 296 rows sits under a column header reading "28/20", not "28/29", in the published HTML table that is the citable, canonical version of the funding document [4] | A factual error in the reference document that fixes what each council is owed |
| Funding is allocated "to cover any costs associated with supporting care leavers in scope of this exemption" [3] | Neither document states any reporting duty, ring-fencing condition or review point to check whether a council's allocation proves adequate once the exemption is in full effect | No accountability mechanism named for money tied to a live legal duty |
A gap that grows, then goes quiet
The pattern across the three years is not flat. Summed across all 296 authorities, the first year comes to £2,296,414, covering only the part-year from the funding's Q3 2026-27 start [3] [4]. The second year, a full financial year, jumps to £12,871,629. The third comes to £11,614,045 under the mislabelled column. A council finance officer reading the summary page alone would plan only for the £2.3 million already flagged as confirmed for this year, and wait for "due course" on the rest. The same officer reading the annex table would already have next year's figure in front of them, more than five times the size. The two documents sit on the same URL and say different things about what is settled.
The Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities, the statutory guidance councils "must have regard to" when exercising their homelessness functions, was itself updated on 30 September 2026 to reflect the new exemption [5]. That confirms the legal duty is live and cross-referenced correctly. It does not touch the funding question: neither the code nor either funding document explains why a table that already prices three years of a council's exposure to the penny is introduced by a sentence telling that same council two of those years remain to be worked out.
Credit where due
The underlying policy change is specific and narrowly targeted, not a vague gesture: it borrows established definitions already used elsewhere in child social care law ("relevant child", "former relevant child") rather than inventing new categories, and it fixes a clear upper age of 25 [1]. The commencement date is unambiguous and independently verifiable against the actual commencement order, not just departmental say-so [2]. MHCLG has also gone further than several new burdens settlements this site has examined by publishing a per-authority breakdown at all, down to Rutland's £842 and the Isles of Scilly's £16, rather than a single national lump sum with no way for an individual council to check its own position [4].
Four documented mistakes. (1) The summary page describes 2027-28 and 2028-29 payment details as still to be "confirmed and communicated in due course", but the annex table published on the same page, the same day, already states the exact allocation for both years for all 296 councils. (2) The allocations are published with no stated methodology, data source or grand total; the £26,782,088 three-year national total has to be calculated independently by summing all 296 rows. (3) The published funding table's third-year column is headed "28/20" instead of "28/29" throughout. (4) No reporting, ring-fencing or review mechanism is named for how councils must use money tied to a legal duty already in force. Rated three stars out of five.
Sources
- Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, section 9 (legislation.gov.uk)
- The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 (Commencement No. 2) (England) Regulations 2026, regulation 6 (legislation.gov.uk)
- Intentional homelessness: new burdens funding allocations (GOV.UK, publication page)
- Intentional homelessness: new burdens funding allocations (GOV.UK, full table)
- Homelessness code of guidance for local authorities (GOV.UK)