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16 A reduction in the proportion of children who live in a home that falls below the set standard of decency (England).
Baseline and trends: Baseline year –1996. In 1996, 41 per cent of children lived in a home that did not meet the set standard of decency. This has since fallen to 29 per cent in 2001, 27 per cent in 2003, 25 per cent in 2004, and 23 per cent in 2005.
Definition: The proportion of dependent children (aged 0–15 or 16–18 in full-time education) who live in a home that does not meet the set standard of decency. The definition of a decent home is one that meets all of the following criteria:
- it is above the current statutory minimum standard for housing;
- it is in a reasonable state of repair;
- it has reasonably modern facilities and services; and
- it provides a reasonable degree of thermal comfort.
Data source: The English House Condition Survey was undertaken every five years up to and including 2001 from when fieldwork was organised on a continuous basis. Results from the survey have been published annually from 2003 based on combined two-year datasets. The EHCS 2005 Annual Report was published in June 2007.
Further information
An overview of the English House Condition Survey is available at: www.communities.gov.uk/ehcs
This includes most current and available data, with further breaks covering a range of household and dwelling classifications, type of location and deprived areas.
More information and guidance on decent homes is at: www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1152190
Research Evidence
“Monitoring the delivery of decent homes by local authorities: A scoping study”
www.communities.gov.uk/pub/607/181MonitoringthedeliveryofDecentHomesbylocalauthoritiesascopingstudyPDF103Kb_id1155607.pdf 
