Part XII Miscellaneous and General
Notification of children accommodated in certain establishments
I185 Children accommodated by health authorities and local education authorities.
1
Where a child is provided with accommodation by any F1F2Local Health Board , Special Health Authority,F3Primary Care Trust,F4National Health Service trustF5or NHS foundation trust or by a local authority in the exercise of education functions (“the accommodating authority”)—
a
for a consecutive period of at least three months; or
b
with the intention, on the part of that authority, of accommodating him for such a period,
the accommodating authority shall notify F6the appropriate officer of the responsible authority.
2
Where subsection (1) applies with respect to a child, the accommodating authority shall also notify F7the appropriate officer of the responsible authority when they cease to accommodate the child.
F82A
In a case where the child is provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of education functions, subsections (1) and (2) apply only if the local authority providing the accommodation is different from the responsible authority.
3
In this section “the responsible authority” means—
a
the local authority appearing to the accommodating authority to be the authority within whose area the child was ordinarily resident immediately before being accommodated; or
b
where it appears to the accommodating authority that a child was not ordinarily resident within the area of any local authority, the local authority within whose area the accommodation is situated.
F93A
In this section and sections 86 and 86A “ the appropriate officer ” means—
a
in relation to a local authority in England, their director of children's services; and
b
in relation to a local authority in Wales, their lead director for children and young people's services.
4
Where F10the appropriate officer of a local authority has been notified under this section, F11the local authority shall—
a
take such steps as are reasonably practicable to enable them to determine whether the child’s welfare is adequately safeguarded and promoted while he is accommodated by the accommodating authority; and
b
consider the extent to which (if at all) they should exercise any of their functions under this Act with respect to the child.
F125
For the purposes of subsection (4)(b), if the child is not in the area of the local authority, they must treat him as if he were in that area.