Temporary accommodation ‘possible factor’ in 74 child deaths in five years
Temporary accommodation ‘possible factor’ in 74 child deaths in five years
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A total of 74 children, mostly babies, have died in recent years in England with temporary accommodation recorded as a possible contributory factor, new figures show. Fifty-eight of those who died between April 2019 and March last year were aged under one, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Households in Temporary Accommodation said.
In each of the 74 deaths, temporary accommodation – considered a form of homelessness – was listed as a contributing factor to their vulnerability, ill-health, or death. In total between October 2023 and September last year, 80 children died while living in temporary accommodation, according to the National Child Mortality Database – accounting for 3% of the total number of child deaths during that period.
The Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP) process assesses circumstances of such deaths, including whether temporary accommodation was a contributing factor. The APPG said there was a disproportionate number of children from deprived areas represented in the figures, while children from non-white families were also over-represented, accounting for 38% of deaths across the five-year period despite making up only 27% of the population.
Dame Siobhain McDonagh, chair of the APPG, described the figures as “shocking”. She said: “Seventy-four children have died in five years with temporary accommodation contributing to their death. That is more than one every month. How shocking is that? In the fifth largest economy in the world.
