NNECL's Perspective on What Works for Accommodation

Housing Futures: A NNECL Perspective on What Works for Accommodation

On Wednesday 3 December 2025, we will be publishing Housing Futures: A NNECL Perspective on What Works for Accommodation. This paper draws on insights from NNECL Quality Mark submissions to highlight effective practice in student accommodation for care-experienced and estranged learners across further and higher education. The paper highlights:

• evidenced examples of what works, 
• provides an overview of local authority responsibilities, and 
• sets out our policy thinking on improving accommodation pathways for students with care experience.

Launched in June 2021, the NNECL Quality Mark, highlighted as an example of best practice in the final recommendations of Josh MacAlister’s (now Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing) 2022 Independent Review of Children’s Social Care in England, supports staff across NNECL member institutions to transform the educational experience of care-experienced students. Institutions engage with the Quality Mark voluntarily, driven by a genuine commitment to understand their current practice, identify gaps, and strengthen the support offered to care-experienced and estranged learners, with the overarching aim of improving educational outcomes.

The independent evaluation of the Quality Mark (February 2025) found that all participating institutions improved their approach to widening access to higher education and providing the conditions students need to thrive. A clear majority reported that these improvements were fully or partially attributable to their engagement with the Quality Mark.

Speakers

Moira Mitchell

Moira began her career in healthcare before becoming Director of the Foundation for Assistive Technology in 1998, a charity linked to RADAR that enabled disabled people to influence the products and services they receive. She led the charity for seven years, managing contracts including those for the Department of Health. In 2007, she joined Canterbury Christ Church University as Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager and also served as strategic lead for student retention until 2019. Since 2020 Moira has led the ongoing development of NNECL’s Quality Mark for the Inclusion and Success of Care Experienced Students. Currently, she is the lead assessor in the national role-out of the NNECL Quality Mark.

Denise Rawls

Denise joined NNECL in October 2023 to support the delivery of our strategic growth. Before joining the charity sector, Denise spent nearly 30 years as a civil servant, working across education, public affairs, criminal justice, health and safety, and international trade. Denise brings both professional and personal insight to her work. She is committed to closing the disadvantage gap through policy, advocacy, and emergent strategy and brings with her lived experience of local authority and kinship care. 

Pricing

This webinar is free to attend.  

Who should attend?

This webinar is ideal for any practitioner, institution or policy marker with an interest in achieving better educational outcomes for students from care or estranged backgrounds in post-16 education.

How will it be delivered?

This will be a live webinar hosted on Microsoft Teams. Once registered, the link to join will be shared ahead of the event.

Will this event be recorded?

Yes, this event is being recorded and will be uploaded to the NNECL Members area after the event. Those who are not members will not be able to access the recording.  

We may also take images of the event to share on our social media, if you wish not be included, please let us know via [email protected]

Your access needs

We are committed to inclusivity and to ensure that all our participants feel welcomed and can fully engage with our sessions. Therefore,

• all online events will have closed captions. 
• to help us, please share any access needs you have when prompted by our booking form. 

We may be in touch to ensure we’re making the right adjustments.

Having trouble booking?

If you have any questions or encounter any issues during registration, please email us at [email protected] for support.