FI16591
Request
Please treat this as a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
I am requesting aggregated, non-personal information about households placed in temporary accommodation outside your administrative area (“out-of-area”) and the cost to your council of those placements.
Definitions (to avoid ambiguity)
- “Temporary accommodation (TA)” means interim/temporary accommodation secured or provided in connection with homelessness duties/powers under Part VII Housing Act 1996 (e.g. s.188, s.190, s.193 and related provisions), including nightly-paid accommodation such as B&B/hotels and other TA forms.
- “Out-of-area” means TA located outside your council’s administrative area (including placements elsewhere in Kent/Medway and outside Kent/Medway).
- “Household with children” means a household containing at least one dependent child aged under 18.
Time period
Financial years: 1 April 2023 - 31 March 2024, 1 April 2024 - 31 March 2025, 1 April 2025 - 31 Dec 2025
Information requested (please answer from existing reports/ledgers)
Please provide the following single-year totals for FY 2023/24, 2024/25, 1 April 2025 - Dec 31 2025:
- Households placed out-of-area in TA
a) Total number of households your council accommodated in out-of-area TA at any point during the year; and
b) Of (a), the number of households with children.
- Section 208 notifications (totals only)
a) Total number of Section 208 (out of district) notifications sent by your council during the year (relating to your out-of-area placements); and
b) Total number of Section 208 notifications received from other authorities during the year (relating to households they placed into TA within your area, also name the council who received the notification from).
- Cost to the council of out-of-area TA (totals only)
a) Total gross expenditure by your council on out-of-area TA during the year; and
b) If your accounts/reporting hold it without manual casework: total income/recoveries attributable to out-of-area TA during the year (however recorded in your systems), and the resulting net cost (gross minus income/recoveries).
If (b) is not held in a way that can be attributed specifically to out-of-area TA, please state “not held”.
Response
1. As follows:
|
Date
|
Total Households
|
Households with Children
|
|
2023/24
|
113
|
52
|
|
2024/25
|
148
|
59
|
|
2025/26 (to 31/12/25)
|
104
|
23
|
2. (a) We send Section 208 notifications for each out of area placement but do not hold the information.
(b) The Council only holds this information from January 2024.
|
Date
|
Total Households
|
|
2023/24 (01/01/24 to 31/03/24)
|
2
|
|
2024/25
|
51
|
|
2025/26 (to 31/12/25)
|
84
|
In addition to the above data, during 2024 and 2025 we received 40 notifications that the temporary accommodation placement had ended, with no temporary accommodation start date. The referrals were received from the following local authorities:
- Ashford
- Canterbury
- Eastbourne
- Folkestone & Hythe
- Maidstone
- Medway
- Rother
- Sevenoaks
- Swale
- Thanet
- Tunbridge Wells
3. This information is not held in a format that can be reported on. The total temporary accommodation can be found as part of the payment to suppliers’ data on our website at https://www.dover.gov.uk/Corporate-Information/Financial-Information/Payments-to-Suppliers/Payments-to-Suppliers.aspx.