Good intelligence gathering is essential to a successful rough sleeping snapshot estimate. This section contains tips for local authority leads, count coordinators and estimate meeting coordinators on intelligence gathering, working with partner agencies, organising and executing estimate meetings.

Consulting with local agencies 

Local partner agencies should be consulted to discuss what intelligence they have about rough sleeping locally to check if there are any factors that might affect the choice of a ‘typical’ night for the estimate.

The local authority should involve those local agencies that will have the most accurate information about who is sleeping rough.

Local partner agencies could include:

  • Outreach teams
  • Advice agencies
  • Hostels, day centres, night shelters
  • Housing department
  • Social Services, Youth Workers, Probation
  • Police, community safety teams
  • Health and mental health services
  • Housing Associations
  • Park rangers
  • Faith groups, soup runs, street pastors
  • Refuse collectors, town centre/local retail security/managements, street wardens.

How to consult 

The local authority should arrange a meeting and invite local partners to contribute to the intelligence gathering process. If there is a local forum or network that brings together key homelessness agencies, such as a Rough Sleeping Action Group, this could be the starting point for consultation.

The multi-agency meeting should bring together the most accurate and up-to-date information on rough sleeping in order to make a decision on which approach to use.

In areas where there are very low numbers of people sleeping rough or where the local authority covers a large rural area, and where there is no existing multi-agency forum, the local authority may decide to carry out the consultation by telephone or email. In this case, the local authority should check with Homeless Link that this would meet the quality assurance (formerly verification) requirements. Homeless Link must still be contacted to arrange a quality assurance call.

See the template agenda, notes and information gathering form below to initiate the planning process for your snapshot estimate. Please note that a separate estimate meeting should be arranged after your chosen ‘typical’ night with partner agencies, to discuss intelligence and to arrive at a final snapshot figure, including demographic data.

Agenda and notes for an intelligence-gathering meeting 

Welcome, introductions and apologies

  • The Chair should open the meeting with a brief overview of the need to submit a snapshot figure and include local context about practice to date in terms of count-based estimates, evidence-based estimates, and evidence base estimates including a spotlight count.
  • Ask each attendee to outline the role of their organisation in working with people sleeping rough and where their intelligence derives from.
  • Chair to state who else has submitted data that will contribute to the overall estimate, if these parties are not in attendance.
  • Agree the process and protocol for sharing sensitive information about clients. A template data protection protocol is provided in the Useful Forms and Other Resources’ below.

Who to include in the snapshot estimate

  • Explain the definition of rough sleeping and who this includes
  • In 2010, the Government widened the definition of rough sleeping and when estimating or counting it is essential that those included in the count figure fall into the following definition:

People sleeping, about to bed down (sitting on/in or standing next to their bedding) or actually bedded down in the open air (such as on the streets, in tents, doorways, parks, bus shelters or encampments). People in buildings or other places not designed for habitation (such as stairwells, barns, sheds, car parks, cars, derelict boats, stations, or “bashes”).

  • Explain that the rough sleeping definition does not include people in hostels or shelters, individuals who are sofa-surfing, people in campsites or other sites used for recreational purposes, organised protests, squatters, or Travellers.
  • Discuss with the group that the snapshot estimate must only include those rough sleeping on the chosen ‘typical’ night, rather than a larger sample of street activity or people using homelessness services.
  • Discuss any issues that arise around what constitutes sufficient evidence to include people who say they are rough sleeping but have never been seen doing so.
  • Note that local authorities are also required to return demographic data on the number of women, men, under-18s, 18 -25s, 26 and over, and UK and non-UK nationals

Key hot spots and estimated numbers 

Chair to ask each representative from the partner agencies to outline:

  • Where they think the rough sleeping hotspots are in the local authority area.
  • Their estimated number of people sleeping rough.
  • Whether they think there has been any change in the extent or nature of rough sleeping since last year.
  • Other information sources and data that can be taken into account, such as ongoing recording in a database for people sleeping rough, task and targeting groups, information from agencies such as police or probation, hostel and shelter lists.

The discussion then needs to take into account disagreements between agencies and to address issues of double counting (to include information on individuals, if appropriate data protection processes are in place).

Local authorities may agree to collate further information following this meeting or take additional steps to avoid double estimation between agencies.

If appropriate, the Chair can lead the group to discuss whether other data gathering is required on an ongoing basis.

Action: Local authority to decide which approach they will follow and agree the date of the ‘typical’ night. Partner agencies to understand the rough sleeping definition and what evidence is required.