Are you facing Homelessness?
If you are worried about your housing situation please ACT NOW! The sooner you contact us the sooner we can start to try and help.
If you think you are homeless or threatened with homelessness complete and submit the online referral form below and someone will be in touch with you as soon as possible.
If you are not sure about your situation you can always call us on 01353 665555 to book an appointment or you can come to the council offices to see one of our advisers at our drop-in clinics
Information for Public Authorities
Public authorities with a duty to refer:
- Emergency Departments
- Hospitals in their function of providing inpatient care
- Jobcentres in England
- Prisons
- Probation services (including community rehabilitation companies)
- Secretary of State for defence in relation to member of the regular armed forces
- Secure colleges
- Secure training centres
- Social service authorities (both adult and children)
- Urgent treatment centres
- Young offenders institutes
- Youth offending teams
Requirements of the Duty to refer
The new duty requires the specified public authorities to identify and refer a service user who is homeless or may be threatened with homelessness, to a local housing authority of the service user's choice.
The service user must consent to the referral being made. The consent can be made in writing or given orally (see the section below), although the person referring should follow the agreed processes set out in their agency's internal guidance, if applicable.
A person is considered homeless if:
- They do not have any accommodation which is available for them which they have a legal right to occupy, or
- It is not reasonable for the person to occupy their current accommodation, for example, because they would be at risk of domestic abuse
Someone is defined as being threatened with homelessness where they are likely to become homeless within 56 days, or have been served with a valid notice under Section 21 of the Housing Act 1998 by their landlord, which expires within 56 days.
Complete the referral form at the top of this page
If you as an authority have any queries please do contact us using the Duty to refer email below:
Further information: