Official Statistics

Statutory homelessness in England: July to September 2022

Published 28 February 2023

Applies to England

1. In this release:

This is the quarterly statistics release for statutory homelessness assessments and activities in England between 1 July and 30 September 2022. It also reports on stock households in temporary accommodation under the statutory homelessness duty in England on 30 September 2022.

A quarterly Performance Dashboard is available to view a high level summary of homelessness figures by local authority. An infographic of headlines is also available to view on the same page, alongside the data tables and technical note.

Between July and September 2022:

• 75,860 households were initially assessed as homeless or threatened with homelessness and owed a statutory homelessness duty, up 4.4% from July to September 2021.
• 34,130 households were assessed as being threatened with homelessness, and therefore owed a prevention duty which is up 5.8% from the same quarter the previous year. This includes 6,170 households threatened with homelessness due to service of a Section 21 notice to end an Assured Shorthold Tenancy – an increase of 34.4% from the same quarter the previous year.
• 38,190 households were initially assessed as homeless and therefore owed a relief duty, up 2.9% from the same quarter the previous year. Households with children owed a relief duty increased 7.9% from the same quarter the previous year to 10,740 households in July to September 2022.
• 12,330 households were accepted as owed a main homelessness duty, up 18.1% from July to September 2021. This reflects the increase in households with children owed a relief duty this quarter (7.9%) and last quarter (16.4%) compared to previous year.
• On 30 September 2022, 99,270 households were in temporary accommodation, which is an increase of 3.9% from 30 September 2021. Temporary accommodation figures for households with children increased by 6.0% to 61,820, and single households increased by 0.6% to 37,450. Compared to the previous quarter, the number of households in temporary accommodation has increased 3.7%.

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Release date: 28 February 2023

Date of next release: Spring 2023

Contact: Homelessness Statistics Team HomelessnessStats@levellingup.gov.uk

Media enquiries: 0303 444 1209 / NewsDesk@levellingup.gov.uk

2. Initial assessments

Prevention duty: Local authorities may deliver their prevention duty through any activities aimed at preventing a household threatened with homelessness within 56 days from becoming homeless. This would involve activities to enable an applicant to remain in their current home or find alternative accommodation in order to prevent them from becoming homeless. The duty lasts for up to 56 days but may be extended if the local authority is continuing with efforts to prevent homelessness.

Relief duty: The relief duty is owed to households that are already homeless on approaching a local authority, and so require help to secure settled accommodation. The duty lasts 56 days and can only be extended by a local authority if the household is not owed the main homelessness duty.

Section 21 notice: A section 21 notice is the form a landlord must give a tenant to start the process to end an assured shorthold tenancy. This is recorded alongside initial assessments

Figure 1: Number of households owed a prevention or relief duty since 2019 Q2

Household composition (Tables A5P and A5R)

Single households: A term used for households without children, which will include couples and households with two or more adults.

Single adult households: Single adult households are a subset of single households, where the household comprises just one individual adult.

Households with children: All households with children, including single adults, couples and all others.

In July to September 2022, 46,740 single households were owed a prevention or relief duty, up 2.4% from July to September 2021. The number of households with children owed a prevention or relief duty increased 7.7% from July to September 2021 to 25,570.

Single households are more likely to have homeless applications taken when already homeless and so are owed a relief duty (58.8%), whereas households with children are more likely to have an application taken when threatened with homelessness (58.0%).

Reasons for homelessness (Tables A2P and A2R)

For households owed a prevention duty, end of private rented Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) was the most common reason, accounting for 13,440 (39.4%) households owed a prevention duty. This has increased (up 28.6%) from the same quarter the previous year. A breakdown of households owed a prevention duty due to the end of an AST shows the biggest increase was due to rent arrears caused by increases in rent followed by tenant difficulty budgeting or making other payment(s), and change in personal circumstances. They have increased 166.7%, 25.5% and 16.7% respectively from the same quarter the previous year.

The second most common reason for households owed a prevention duty was family or friends no longer willing or able to accommodate, which accounted for 8,650 (25.3%) households in July to September 2022, up 0.6% from the same quarter the previous year.

For those owed a relief duty, family or friends no longer willing or able to accommodate was the most common reason for homelessness, accounting for 12,300 (32.2%) households, up 9.1% from the same quarter the previous year.

The second most common reason for those owed a relief duty was domestic abuse, accounting for 6,700 (17.5%) households owed a relief duty. This had increased 4.0% from the same quarter the previous year.

Another notable change from the same quarter the previous year for households owed a relief duty is end of private rented AST, up 31.8% from the same quarter the previous year to 4,730 households.

Current accommodation (Tables A4P and A4R)

The most common type of accommodation at the time of application for those owed a prevention duty was in the private rented sector (46.1%), up 17.8% from July to September 2021 to 15,730 households - consistent with the reasons for homelessness. This was also up 17.8% for those owed a relief duty to 5,560 households.

For households owed a relief duty, the most common type of accommodation was living with family (24.5%), which increased 4.9% from July to September 2021 to 9,370 households. For those owed a prevention duty, households living with family had decreased 5.2% to 8,530 households.

The number of households owed a relief duty who were rough sleeping on approach increased by 30.6% from July to September 2021 to 3,760 households, while those reporting no fixed abode fell 17.6% to 5,350 households. As a result of amendments to the H-CLIC specification that were intended to improve the accuracy of reporting, the percentage reported as ‘other/not known’ accommodation has reduced by 42.0% for prevention duties and 55.1% for relief duties.

Rough sleeping: People sleeping in the open air (such as on the streets, in tents, doorways, parks, bus shelters or encampments or other places not designed for habitation - such as stairwells, barns, sheds, car parks, cars, derelict boats, stations, or “bashes” which are makeshift shelters - often comprised of cardboard boxes). Rough sleepers in this publication may have slept rough one night or across several nights.

Rough sleeping at the time of Local Authority Approach: Rough sleepers are defined as those who were, in the judgement of the assessor, rough sleeping when they approached a local authority for help.

History of Rough Sleeping: This is a support need based on a history of sleeping rough and does not mean that the household was sleeping rough at the time of approach to the local authority.

Duty to Refer (Table A7)

Duty to Refer: Since 1 October 2018, duty to refer has required specified public bodies to refer, with consent, users of their service who they think may be homeless or threatened with homelessness to a local housing authority of the individual’s choice.

7.5%, or 5,690, of the 75,860 assessments made were as a result of referrals from public bodies under the duty to refer. Of the assessments carried out from a referral, 95.8% resulted in a homelessness duty.

The National Probation Service made the most referrals to homelessness services which resulted in an assessment under the duty to refer with 2,200 (or 38.7%) referrals, an increase of 25.0% from July to September 2021.

We are continuously working to improve these figures, to update the public bodies under the duty to refer to reflect new structures, and to reduce the use of Other/Not known. The category ‘Other’ has seen no change from the same quarter the previous year.

Other demographics (Tables A3, A6, A8, and A10)

Support needs: areas of additional needs that mean the household requires support to acquire and sustain accommodation, giving an indication of the additional services local authorities need to provide to prevent an individual becoming homeless or to stop the cycle of repeat homelessness. Local authorities report as many support needs that apply to each household.

Of all households owed either a prevention or relief duty, 38,160 households, or 52.8%, identified as having one or more support needs. The most common support need was a history of mental health problems, accounting for 19,350 households or 26.8% of households owed a duty. 13,300 households, or 18.4% of all households owed a duty, had a support need relating to physical ill health or disability. Other notable groups included those with experience of or at risk of domestic abuse, 12.1%; and those with offending history, 8.6%.

The overall increase in the number of households owed a prevention or relief duty in July to September 2022 compared to the previous year was driven by increases in lead applicants aged 25 and over. The largest increases were for those aged 65-74, up 17.1% to 2,190; and 75+ up 9.9% to 780. Those aged 16-17 and 18-24, fell by 13.4% and 3.5% respectively.

The majority of households owed a prevention or relief duty were where the lead applicant was White (67.8%), followed by households where the lead applicant was Black (10.0%) or Asian (6.4%). The number of households owed a prevention or relief duty where the lead applicant was Asian, White and Black and increased 4.3%, 3.5% and 2.3% respectively from 6 Statutory Homelessness Statistical Release the same quarter the previous year.

The employment status that saw the largest increase was in the Other category, up 28.6% to 5,400; followed by those who were working full-time, up 9.7% to 10,620. Those who had retired or were in part-time work had also increased 7.3% and 3.2% respectively. The number of lead applicants who are students/in training fell 6.8% to 960, not registered but seeking work increased 5.4% to 2,360, and those who were registered unemployed fell 3.4% to 24,170.

3. Outcomes

Tables P1 and R1

In July to September 2022, the prevention duty ended for 32,290 households, up 10.7% from the same quarter the previous year; and 42,170 households saw their relief duty end, up 3.9% from the same quarter the previous year.

Over half of the prevention duties which ended between July to September 2022 (17,120 or 53.0%) ended because the household secured accommodation for six months or more and their homelessness had been prevented – as a proportion of prevention duties ended, this has fallen 1.9 percentage points from the previous year. Of these households who secured accommodation at the end of their prevention duty, 5,530 or 32.3%, were able to remain in their existing home, up 1.4 percentage points from the previous year.

7,290 or 22.6% of households whose prevention duty ended were homeless at the end of the prevention duty and owed a subsequent relief duty, up 1.8 percentage points from the same quarter the previous year.

Of the 42,170 relief duties ended, 15,390 or 36.5% of households had accommodation secured for at least 6 months, down 2.6 percentage points from the same quarter the previous year. Of these, 73.6% (11,330) were single households, down 3.4 percentage points from the same quarter the previous year.

18,050 (42.8%) households whose relief duty ended did not have homelessness relieved within the 56 days, up 3.3 percentage points from the same quarter the previous year. The local authority would need to assess whether a main duty is owed to these households.

4. Main homelessness duty

Main Duty: The ‘main’ homelessness duty describes the duty a local authority has towards an applicant who is unintentionally homeless, eligible for assistance and has priority need1 . These households are only owed a main duty if they did not secure accommodation in the prevention or relief stage, and so is not owed to those ‘threatened with homelessness’. In addition a minimum of 56 days of assistance must have elapsed from a household approaching the local authority to being owed a main duty.

Tables MD1-3

Main duty acceptances increased 18.1% from the same quarter the previous year to 12,330 in July to September 2022. Households with children owed a main duty increased 26.0% from the same quarter the previous year to 7,600 households. This reflects the increase in households with children owed a prevention (10.9%) or relief duty (11.9%) in the current and last quarter compared to the same quarters in the previous year.

The number of households owed a main duty who were homeless and have priority need due to domestic abuse had increased 31.7% from July to September 2021, reflecting both an increase in homelessness due to domestic abuse over the previous year; but also the implementation of priority need for single people who are homeless due to being victims of domestic abuse through the Domestic Abuse Act in July 2021. The percentage of households that were homeless, had priority need and were intentionally homeless has stayed the same at 760 households. Those that were homeless and did not have a priority need fell by 2.5% to 3,900 households.

Figure 2: Number of households assessed against a main duty decision, by outcome

In July to September 2022, 8,940 households had their main homelessness duty come to an end, up 21.8% from July to September 2021.

Of these households, 6,930 or 77.5% households accepted an offer of settled accommodation, up 24.0% from the same quarter the previous year.

5. Temporary accommodation

Temporary Accommodation: Temporary Accommodation is the term used to describe accommodation secured by a local housing authority under their statutory homelessness functions. The majority of households in temporary accommodation have been placed under the main homelessness duty, but temporary accommodation is also provided during the relief stage to households who the LA has reason to believe may have priority need, or on interim basis in other circumstances such as pending the outcome of a review on a homelessness decision.

Table TA1

99,270 households were in temporary accommodation on 30 September 2022, up 3.7% from the previous quarter; single households increased 4.4%, and households with children increased 3.4%.

In London, there were 15.98 households living in temporary accommodation per 1,000 households, compared with 2.06 households per 1,000 in the Rest of England. Newham had the highest rate of Temporary accommodation (TA) in London with 49.10 households per 1,000 households and Luton had the highest rate of TA outside London with 13.83 households per 1,000 households.

On 30 September 2022, 27,480 or 27.7% of households in temporary accommodation were in accommodation in a different local authority district. 81.6% of these out of district placements were from London authorities.

Figure 3: Number of households in temporary accommodation since 2019 Q2, by household type

On 30 September 2022, 61,820 households or 62.3% included dependent children, with a total of 125,760 dependent children living in temporary accommodation.

As shown in Figure 4 below, most households with children (82.4%) were in self-contained accommodation (private sector, nightly paid, or local authority or housing association accommodation). The number of households with children in self-contained accommodation was 50,920, an increase of 2.3% compared to September 2021.

Of the total number of households in temporary accommodation in July to September 2022, Section 193 duties increased by 22.5%; Interim duties by 22.7%; number of households accommodated under Section 189B powers decreased by 24.6%; number of duties ended but the household remained in temporary accommodation reduced by 3.3%, and number of duties not classifiable reduced by 39.4% from July to September 2021.

Of the households in temporary accommodation, 11,490 were living in bed and breakfast (B&B) accommodation, up 22.5% from the same date the previous year. Of these households in B&B, 8,700 (75.7%) were single households, up 9.8% from the same date the previous year.

The number of households in B&B with dependent children increased 91.1% from the same date the previous year to 2,790 households in September 2022. Of the households with children in B&B, 1,210 had been resident for more than the statutory limit of 6 weeks. This is up 112.3% from 570 on 30 September 2021, and up 18.6% from 1,020 in the previous quarter.

Figure 4: Number of households in temporary accommodation, by type of accommodation

6. Homelessness management information - Ukrainian nationals

A separate ad hoc management information collection ‘Monitoring Additional Homelessness Pressures from Ukrainian Nationals’ has been collected since the 24 February 2022. The collection tracks how many Ukrainian households that have moved to the UK now require assistance to prevent or relieve homelessness. It includes local authority level data for Ukrainian households who have been owed a prevention or relief duty or have been placed in temporary accommodation.

A publication for this collection is published monthly on GOV.UK.

7. Quarterly H-CLIC Data Dashboard

This quarter introduces the new Quarterly H-CLIC Data Dashboard. This dashboard visually presents using charts and maps the data in this quarter’s detailed local authority level data for statutory homelessness; it is intended to provide easy cross-sectional and spatial analysis of the dataset. In depth guidance on how to use the dashboard is available by clicking the guidance button on the frontpage.

This is a first version of the dashboard and the team would welcome feedback from users: get in touch at homelessnessstats@levellingup.gov.uk.

8. Assessment of compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics

Between October and December 2021, these Statutory Homelessness statistics underwent an assessment by the Office for Statistics Regulation. A report detailing the findings of this assessment was published in December 2021.

The Homelessness Statistics Team in DLUHC have developed an action plan detailing how and by when the requirements identified in the assessment report will be met. This includes a forward work plan which outlines scheduled work over the next year. This will be updated on an ongoing basis and can be found in the Action plan for OSR assessment of compliance.

9. Notes on usage

Statutory homelessness concerns duties placed on local authorities to take reasonable steps to prevent and relieve homelessness to eligible houses.

Each case included in this report is representative of a household, which includes households with children as well as single adult houses.

This report only covers those owed a duty between 1 July and 30 September 2022.

Every number other than Temporary Accommodation is a cumulative count over the period of the reported quarter. Temporary Accommodation is a snapshot of the last day of the quarter.

Data is collected via the Homelessness Case Level Information Collection, submitted quarterly by local authorities. This method of collection was introduced in 2018 alongside significant homelessness legislation; before this statutory homelessness was recorded in the P1E.

Definitions and a comprehensive breakdown of the quality assurance process can be found in the technical note.

10. Uses and limitations

These statistics can be used:

• To count the number of homelessness duties accepted by local authorities for this quarter and to compare local authorities and regions in England;

• To assess changes in the number of homelessness duties since 2018;

• To understand the causes, circumstances, and characteristics of households owed a duty for this quarter;

• To understand the number of households and the characteristics of Temporary Accommodation.

These statistics are not suitable:

• To estimate the total number of people sleeping rough, sofa surfing, in recreational or organised protest, in squats, or in traveller campsites;

• To estimate the households that have yet to make a homelessness application and those who aren’t eligible;

• To compare with other countries in the UK;

• To compare to figures recorded via the P1E.

11. Accompanying tables

Accompanying tables are available to download alongside this release. References to previously published tables are included where comparisons are possible.

Initial assessments of statutory homelessness duties owed

• A1: Number of households assessed and owed a prevention or relief duty
• A2P: Reason for loss of last settled home for households assessed as owed a prevention duty
• A2R: Reason for loss of last settled home for households assessed as owed a relief duty - A3: Support needs of households assessed as owed a prevention or relief duty
• A4P: Accommodation at time of application for households assessed as owed a prevention duty
• A4R: Accommodation at time of application for households assessed as owed a relief duty 13 Statutory Homelessness Statistical Release
• A5P: Household type at time of application for households assessed as owed a prevention duty
• A5R: Household type at time of application for households assessed as owed a relief duty
• A6: Age of main applicants assessed as owed a prevention or relief duty
• A7: Households referred to a local authority prior to being assessed
• A8: Ethnicity of main applicants assessed as owed a prevention of relief duty
• A9: Nationality of main applicants assessed as owed a prevention or relief duty*
• A10: Employment status of main applicants assessed as owed a prevention or relief duty - A11: Reason for eligibility of main applicants assessed as owed a prevention or relief duty*
• A12: Sexual Identity of main applicants assess as owed a prevention or relief duty

Statutory homelessness prevention duty outcomes

• P1: Reason for households’ prevention duty ending
• P2: Type of accommodation secured for households at end of prevention duty
• P3: Main prevention activity that resulted in accommodation secured for households at end of prevention duty
• P4: Destination of households with alternative accommodation secured at end of prevention duty*
• P5: Household type of households with accommodation secured at end of prevention duty

Statutory homelessness relief duty outcomes

• R1: Reason for households’ relief duty ending
• R2: Type of accommodation secured for households at end of relief duty
• R3: Main prevention activity that resulted in accommodation secured for households at end of relief duty
• R4: Destination of households with alternative accommodation secured at end of relief duty*
• R5: Household type of households with accommodation secured at end of relief duty

Statutory homelessness main duty decisions and outcomes

• MD1: Outcome of main duty decision for eligible households
• MD2: Outcome of households no longer owed a main duty
• MD3: Priority need category of households owed a main duty

Households in temporary accommodation

• TA1: Number of households in temporary accommodation at end of quarter by temporary accommodation type
• TA2: Number of households in temporary accommodation at end of quarter by household type
• TA3: Number of households in temporary accommodation at end of quarter by duty provide

*These tables will now only be published as part of the expanded annual release at end of financial year. The latest published figures can be found in the 2020-21 Detailed local authority-level tables.

12. Technical notes

Please see the accompanying technical notes document for further details.

Information on Official Statistics is available via the UK Statistics Authority website.

Information about statistics at DLUHC is available via the Department’s website