Children experiencing homelessness may still attend school every day, making their circumstances difficult to recognise. Discover the warning signs, safeguarding risks and practical steps schools can take to support affected pupils.

Emmerdale’s storyline of hidden homelessness in May 2026 highlighted the plight that is all too familiar for thousands of families across the UK. When we think about homelessness, we often picture rough sleeping. Yet, many children and young people affected by homelessness are hidden from view – living in temporary accommodation, moving between relatives’ homes, sharing overcrowded spaces, or sofa surfing following family breakdown.

For education professionals, homelessness is not simply a housing issue; it is a safeguarding issue. Under Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE), the statutory guidance is explicit: homelessness is a specific safeguarding concern that all school staff must be trained to recognise and act upon. Local housing authorities now have a statutory duty to notify a child’s school, GP and health visitor when a family is placed in temporary accommodation, provided parental consent is given.

Furthermore, Working Together to Safeguard Children reinforces that no single agency can solve this in isolation. It places a statutory duty on education, social care and housing services to deliver co-ordinated, multi-agency responses under the unified Family Help framework. If we are to protect these children, schools cannot just be places of learning – they must act as an anchor of stability, to counteract the chaos of displacement with daily consistency, trusted adult relationships and support.

What is Hidden Homelessness?

Hidden homelessness refers to situations where people have no secure or permanent home but are not necessarily sleeping rough. For children, this can mean living in temporary accommodation, overcrowded housing or moving between friends and relatives.

Many children experiencing homelessness will still attend school every day and may not identify themselves as homeless. As a result, professionals can easily overlook significant vulnerabilities. Contexts can include:

• Families living in temporary accommodation
• Children placed in B&Bs or emergency housing
• Young people sofa surfing between friends and relatives
• Adolescents staying away from home due to family conflict, or lack of space to live together
• Young people facing homelessness after relationship or family breakdown
• Children living in overcrowded or unsuitable accommodation
• Children living in poor conditions that affect their health

Consider: How does the school capture housing information beyond the address? Where is the child currently staying? Is the arrangement stable? Who are they staying with? How long will they be there? Do they feel safe?

What are the Signs of Hidden Homelessness in Schools?

Patterns in school attendance can offer a window into the signs of hidden homelessness and potential safeguarding concerns. Whilst these can vary between families, particularly at different points in the year, warning signs may include:

• Persistent lateness
• Poor attendance
• Fatigue in lessons
• Lack of homework completion
• Missing equipment or uniform
• Increased anxiety
• Social withdrawal
• Frequent address changes
• Sudden decline in attainment

It’s important to remember that homeless students may continue attending school without disclosing their living circumstances, making these changes particularly important to recognise.

Consider:  Who is analysing the attendance data? Are you looking at poor attendance, or are you seeing housing insecurity?

What are the Safeguarding Risks of Child Homelessness?

Child homelessness can increase vulnerability to abuse, neglect and exploitation, while also affecting education, mental health and wellbeing. Frequent moves and unstable living arrangements can make it harder for professionals to recognise concerns and provide consistent support.

Increased vulnerability to abuse and neglect

Housing instability can:

• Reduce protective oversight from frequent moves
• Create opportunities for harm to go unnoticed
• Create lack of access to health services

Missing education

Frequent moves can result in:

• Disrupted learning
• Gaps in attendance
• Withdrawal from school life
• Poor attainment
• A lack of social circles

Risk of exploitation

Young people who lack a safe and consistent place to live are at greater risk of:

• Child criminal exploitation
• County lines activity
• Grooming
• Economic exploitation

Mental health and wellbeing

Children can display signs of:

• Trauma
• Anxiety
• Shame
• Isolation
• Poor self-esteem
• Dysregulation
• Frequent episodes of illness
• Poor nutrition
• Fatigue

How Can Schools Support Children Experiencing Hidden Homelessness?

Schools can support children experiencing homelessness by recognising the signs early, assessing immediate safety concerns, making appropriate referrals and working with housing and children’s services. DSLs also play an important role in providing practical support and maintaining stability for affected pupils.

“I’ve got nowhere to go tonight.”

“We’ve got no money or food left.”

“They’ve changed the locks, and I can’t access anything.”

“We need somewhere to sleep tomorrow. My aunt can’t have us sleeping on the sofa for much longer.”

“I slept in my friend’s garage, but his mum and dad don’t know.”

DSLs across the country will be able to relate to these disclosures. But when you’re faced with the reality of a young person or family having nowhere to turn, what can you do? Working Together emphasises coordinated support across agencies, including education, social care and housing services. As a school, there are key actions you can take.

Establish the Context

Before making any referrals, ensure you understand the family’s immediate needs.

• Where will the child physically sleep tonight? Is it a temporary sofa at a relative’s house, a commercial hotel/B&B, an unvetted adult’s address, or literally nowhere?
• Who else is in that environment? In shared B&Bs, hostels, or sofa-surfing setups, children are often forced to share communal spaces or rooms with unfamiliar adults. DSLs must assess immediate exposure to contextual harm, substance misuse, or abuse risks.
• Are basic physiological needs being met? Does the child have access to clean running water, cooking facilities, medication (if required) and a bed/mattress, or are they sleeping on floors/in vehicles?

Understand the Intersecting Vulnerabilities

Homelessness is often a symptom of underlying trauma or hidden risk. DSLs must exercise professional curiosity to help identify the root causes of homelessness.

• Is the family fleeing sudden domestic violence? This can change the response from a standard housing application to an emergency refuge/police safety intervention.
• If it’s an older pupil sofa-surfing alone, is this a case of youth homelessness driven by other causes such as a family breakdown, forced marriage, or rejection based on identity/LGBTQ+ status?
• Are the parents legally restricted from claiming benefits or housing assistance due to their immigration status? If so, standard housing routes will turn them away, and Children’s Social Care must step in under Section 17 to prevent child destitution.
• Is an older young person “staying with a friend” in exchange for labour, drugs, or sexual favours? Sofa-surfing is one of the primary vectors for Child Sexual and Criminal Exploitation.
• Are there younger or older siblings affected? Ascertain which schools or nurseries other family members attend so multi-school DSL coordination can happen immediately.
• Is the family being split up? Sometimes housing authorities or relatives will offer space for the mother and toddler, leaving a teenager with nowhere to go. DSLs must advocate to keep family units intact wherever safe.

Referrals

• Submit an urgent referral to children’s services if the family has no immediate safe accommodation. Under WTSC 2026, a child without safe accommodation meets the threshold for support under the Children Act 1989.
• Signpost the parents to contact the Local Authority Housing team. If the family has dependent children, the council has an immediate statutory duty to provide emergency interim accommodation that night. The school does not have the legal duty to refer, but they can refer on the family’s behalf with the parent’s explicit consent.
• If the housing instability is a longer-term issue, initiate a Family Help support plan and work with professionals to respond to these needs.

Before the Child Leaves the Premises:

• Ensure you have confirmation from the Housing Officer or Emergency Duty Team (EDT) social worker regarding where the family is sleeping that night.
• Give the pupil/family the out-of-hours Emergency Duty Team (EDT) number and the direct school emergency contact details.
• Schedule an explicit check-in time for the next morning with a member of the team. You may need to consider providing a warm breakfast, a space to wash and a quiet area to process the situation before starting the school day.

Additional Support

• Provide a secure, private space at school to store personal belongings if the family has been locked out or forced to leave home abruptly.
• Issue emergency supermarket vouchers from school discretionary funds to buy essential toiletries, food, uniform, or emergency transport (e.g., bus passes/taxi fares).
• Provide a charged temporary phone/SIM card or power bank so the family remains reachable by the DSL and emergency housing officers overnight.

Longer term, with tight budgets, some schools have limited funds to support families. You can also:

• Contact the nearest foodbank or faith-based organisations which offer support.
• Apply for a Family Action welfare grant.
• Apply for Emergency Essentials support via BBC’s Children in Need.
• Apply for a Relief Grant from the Gregg’s Foundation.
• Refer a family for a Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) payment – this replaced the ‘Household Support Fund’ – from your local authority and is running from April 2026 to March 2029.
• Social care can issue Statutory Cash Assistance (Children Act 1989) if the family requires it – speak to your children’s services advice line.
• Signpost the family for free independent housing advice from major organisations like Shelter or Crisis.

Consider: Do all DSLs in your team know how to respond to a family experiencing a housing crisis? Do you have a central bank of contact numbers and emergency out-of-hours details for the local housing and support organisations in your area? If you don’t have a ‘hardship’ fund, do you know which other organisations can help?

Recognising Hidden Homelessness Before It’s Too Late

Hidden homelessness often exists behind a normal school day, a completed register or a child’s reluctance to ask for help. Whether a pupil is living in temporary accommodation, moving between relatives, or sofa surfing following family breakdown, the risks associated with housing instability cannot be underestimated.

As safeguarding professionals, our responsibility is not simply to respond when homelessness becomes visible, but to recognise the signs early, ask the right questions and ensure that every child has access to the safety, stability and support they deserve.

If you need any further guidance, we’re here to help. Our experienced safeguarding advisers can support your school through bespoke safeguarding consultancy and training, helping staff build their confidence, strengthen safeguarding practices and respond effectively to concerns.

If you found this blog useful, you may also be interested in reading the following blogs:

Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026: What Schools Need to Know

By Nasra Hussain

21
Apr

KCSIE 2026: What Schools Need to Know

By Lucie Welch

01
Aug

Working Alongside Parents in Contextual Safeguarding Cases

By Emma Mudge

28
Apr

Build Confidence with Statutory Safeguarding Training

Effective safeguarding relies on staff having the knowledge and confidence to recognise concerns and respond appropriately. This includes identifying less visible risks, such as hidden homelessness, and understanding when a child may need additional support.

Led by experienced safeguarding practitioners and former DSLs, our statutory safeguarding training translates the latest guidance into confident, everyday practice across your setting.

We offer DSL training and update courses for new and existing Designated Safeguarding Leads, with both online and centre-based options available.

  About the Author

Nasra Hussain, Education Adviser for Safeguarding, Services For Education

With over 18 years of experience in education, including 15 years as a senior leader, Nasra is a highly respected and dedicated practitioner who has contributed to a wide range of school settings. Her leadership roles have included Designated Safeguarding Lead, Assistant Headteacher, Deputy Headteacher and Specialist Leader in Education (SLE), supporting school improvement, leadership development and high‑quality teaching and learning.

Nasra has extensive experience assessing National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) and has coached and supported leaders and teams at all levels. She currently works as a Consultant Advisory Teacher and serves as a charity trustee, championing inclusive practice and strengthening community engagement. Nasra has also served as a governor and is currently a member of an Interim Executive Board in Birmingham.

A committed advocate for safeguarding and for building strong relationships with families and communities, Nasra brings compassion, clarity and a values‑driven approach to her work. Her expertise also includes serving as a Key Stage 2 moderator and contributing as a regular panel member for the Standards and Testing Agency, reviewing national SATs materials to ensure fairness, accuracy and national consistency.

Nasra’s work is grounded in a deep belief in equity, empowerment and the transformative impact of education. She combines breadth of experience with a collaborative, purposeful approach, making a meaningful difference to the schools and communities she serves.