A network of safe houses and refuges for the 100,000 children who run away from home each year is planned by ministers to keep vulnerable young people from sleeping rough.

The safe places form part of a national “safety net”, which also includes dozens of trained police and council workers with a specific responsibility to support runaways.

Plans for the safety net, announced yesterday, are an admission by ministers that they currently do very little to protect runaways. Currently, the Government does not even calculate the scale of the problem or pay for any emergency accommodation.

The Children’s Society, a leading charity that has campaigned on the issue for 20 years, says that one in nine children will run away from home for at least one night before turning 16 years old. Girls aged 14 and 15 are the most likely to run away.

One in six ends up sleeping rough, while thousands more take an enormous risk by accepting a bed for the night from a stranger. The Children’s Society has also discovered that only 12 per cent of local authorities have any services at all for runaways. It estimates the number of emergency beds currently available in Britain for runaways at about a dozen, all run by charities.

“We hear of runaway children who go to the police being taken to the 24-hour café at a supermarket, or staying in the rec room at the station because there is nowhere for them to go,” Martin Houghton-Brown, head of policy at the charity, said.

In contrast, the US invests $100 million (£50 million) a year on runaway children, providing emergency shelter and transitional living programmes with skills training and therapy to help them turn their lives around.

Ed Balls, Secretary for Children, Schools and Families, promised greater support in future. “One runaway is one too many and I am determined that every child should have a place where they can feel safe and cared for,” he said.

“This cross-government Working Group will ensure that every young person has access to the help and support they need.”

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