Citation, commencement, extent and application

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Allocation of Housing (Qualification Criteria for Victims of Domestic Abuse and Care Leavers) (England) Regulations 2025 and come into force on 10th July 2025.

(2) These Regulations extend to England and Wales and apply to local housing authorities(2) in England only.

Qualifying persons criterion

2.—(1) In deciding what classes of persons are not qualifying persons under section 160ZA(7) of the Housing Act 1996, a local housing authority in England may not use the criterion set out in this regulation.

(2) The criterion is that a relevant person must have a local connection(3) to the district of a local housing authority.

(3) A relevant person is a person who—

(a)is or has been a victim of domestic abuse carried out by another person, who needs to move for reasons connected with that abuse, including from accommodation initially occupied on a temporary basis, or

(b)is an eligible child, a relevant child or a former relevant child.

(4) In this regulation—

“ domestic abuse ” has the meaning given by section 1 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 ( 4 );

“ eligible child ” has the meaning given by paragraph 19B of Schedule 2 to the Children Act 1989 ( 5 );

“ relevant child ” has the meaning given by section 23A(2) of that Act ( 6 );

“ former relevant child ” means a person aged under 25 who falls within the meaning given by section 23C(1) of that Act ( 7 ).