Children Act 1989

23 After that section there shall be inserted—

“12AA Requirement for young offender to live in local authority accommodation.

“12AA (1) Where the conditions mentioned in subsection (6) of this section are satisfied, a supervision order may impose a requirement (“a residence requirement") that a child or young person shall live for a specified period in local authority accommodation.

(2) A residence requirement shall designate the local authority who are to receive the child or young person and that authority shall be the authority in whose area the child or young person resides.

(3) The court shall not impose a residence requirement without first consulting the designated authority.

(4) A residence requirement may stipulate that the child or young person shall not live with a named person.

(5) The maximum period which may be specified in a residence requirement is six months.

(6) The conditions are that—

(a) a supervision order has previously been made in respect of the child or young person;

(b) that order imposed—

(i) a requirement under section 12A(3) of this Act; or

(ii) a residence requirement;

(c) he is found guilty of an offence which—

(i) was committed while that order was in force;

(ii) if it had been committed by a person over the age of twenty-one, would have been punishable with imprisonment; and

(iii) in the opinion of the court is serious; and

(d) the court is satisfied that the behaviour which constituted the offence was due, to a significant extent, to the circumstances in which he was living,

except that the condition in paragraph (d) of this subsection does not apply where the condition in paragraph (b)(ii) is satisfied.

(7) For the purposes of satisfying itself as mentioned in subsection (6)(d) of this section, the court shall obtain a social inquiry report which makes particular reference to the circumstances in which the child or young person was living.

(8) Subsection (7) of this section does not apply if the court already has before it a social inquiry report which contains sufficient information about the circumstances in which the child or young person was living.

(9) A court shall not include a residence requirement in respect of a child or young person who is not legally represented at the relevant time in that court unless—

(a) he has applied for legal aid for the purposes of the proceedings and the application was refused on the ground that it did not appear that his resources were such that he required assistance; or

(b) he has been informed of his right to apply for legal aid for the purposes of the proceedings and has had the opportunity to do so, but nevertheless refused or failed to apply.

(10) In subsection (9) of this section—

(a) “the relevant time” means the time when the court is considering whether or not to impose the requirement; and

(b) “the proceedings” means—

(i) the whole proceedings; or

(ii) the part of the proceedings relating to the imposition of the requirement.

(11) A supervision order imposing a residence requirement may also impose any of the requirements mentioned in sections 12, 12A, 12B or 12C of this Act.

(12) In this section “social inquiry report” has the same meaning as in section 2 of the Criminal Justice Act 1982.”

Commencement Information

I1 Sch. 12 para. 23 wholly in force at 14.10.1991 see s. 108(2)(3) and S.I. 1991/828, art. 3(2)