Last updated: 04 May 2022
Every year, approximately 100,000 adults and 76,000 children are reported missing.
Research has shown there are clear links between homelessness and ‘missing’, including similarities between the social and interpersonal factors that make a person more likely to go missing, and pathways into homelessness such as relationship breakdown, mental health and substance use.
Sleeping rough is a common experience of both adults and young people who go missing, and there are links between going missing as a child and experiences of homelessness as an adult.
This guidance explains 'missing', including the rights of adults to go missing, the role of police, and the work of charity Missing People.
We'd like to thank Missing People for working with us to develop this guidance: www.missingpeople.org.uk/