How many toddlers and babies are living in temporary accommodation in the UK?

Inside Housing filed Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to every local authority in the UK requesting details of households with children aged under five living in temporary accommodation. Keep reading to see the latest data on under-fives living in temporary accommodation, broken down by local authorities across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

How many children under five are in temporary accommodation in the UK?

These calculations are correct as of August 2024, with data referring to March 2024.

Extrapolating our data, we estimate that in England, Scotland and Wales, as of March 2024 there were nearly 34,900 households in temporary accommodation with children aged under five, and nearly 3,000 in B&B accommodation.

In England alone, we estimate that there are 31,500 households with young children in temporary accommodation in March 2024, and of these more than 2,600 are in B&B accommodation.

In England, Scotland and Wales, the number of families with young children in temporary accommodation increased 14.3% between March 2023 and March 2024.

Where in the UK has the highest number of toddlers and babies in temporary accommodation and B&Bs?

The table below can be used to explore the numbers of families with young children in temporary accommodation and B&B accommodation in local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales.

Click the table headings to sort the numbers by different factors.

How long are young children stuck in temporary accommodation?

Increasingly, families are stuck in temporary accommodation for weeks or even months on end. Inside Housing analysed the FOI data to find out what percentage of families with young children had been in temporary accommodation for a long period of time.

It is illegal to place families with children in B&B accommodation – sharing bathrooms or kitchen facilities with other households – for more than six weeks.

Some local authorities are quicker to move families on from B&B temporary accommodation than others. The table below includes all local authorities where the number of households with children aged under five in temporary accommodation totals more than 50.

Where are numbers of under-fives in temporary accommodation rising?

As temporary accommodation numbers continue to rise across the country, in many places, the number of families with young children in this situation is rising, too.

Many local authorities have seen temporary accommodation usage climb significantly in recent times, leaving them scrambling to find suitable housing. The table below includes all local authorities where the number of households with children younger than five years old in temporary accommodation totals more than 50.

Which UK local authorities record data on young children in temporary accommodation?

Almost a third of local authorities do not collect or refused to provide data on the numbers of households with under-fives in temporary accommodation. The map shows which local authorities provided the data.

Among the local authorities that said they do not collect or were unable to provide the data were some that have among the country’s highest levels of temporary accommodation usage.

The Northern Ireland Housing Executive also said it could not provide the data, as it “does not hold the information in the format requested” and directed Inside Housing to view its public datasets.

A Housing Executive spokesperson said: “We may not use the same methods and systems for data collection and reporting as other jurisdictions and therefore we are unable to provide a like-for-like comparison for any dataset.

“The Department for Communities website contains some information on numbers of children in temporary accommodation at a given point in time, as we referenced in our response to the Freedom of Information request.”