The Government has published ‘A guide to the duty to refer’, outlining what the purpose of the duty to refer is. The guidance offers advice to public authorities on how best to identify and intervene when someone is threatened with homelessness.

Under The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 Local Authorities have duties to intervene at earlier stages to prevent homelessness in their areas and to provide homelessness services to those who are eligible.

The Act also introduced a duty on specified Public Authorities to refer individuals who they think may be homeless or threatened with homelessness to Local Authority homelessness/housing options teams.

Public Authorities with a duty to refer (only applicable to English Public Authorities):

  • Prisons
  • Young offender institutions
  • Secure training centres
  • Secure colleges
  • Youth offending teams
  • Probation services (including community rehabilitation companies)
  • Jobcentres in England
  • Social service authorities (both adult and children’s)
  • Emergency departments
  • Urgent treatment centres
  • Hospitals in their function of providing inpatient care
  • Secretary of State for defence in relation to members of the regular armed forces.

Requirements of the duty to refer:

  • To identify and refer all individuals accessing services who are homeless, or are at risk of being homeless to a local housing authority of their choice: the individual must give either written or verbal consent to the referral.
  • Public authorities must:
    • allow the individual to choose which local authority they are referred to
    • ensure the individual understands what the referral means and what will happen next
    • only share information necessary to make the referral.
  • The referral must include:
    • the individual’s name and contact details
    • confirmation that consent has been obtained
    • sufficient information to allow the local authority to follow up.

Role of Public Authorities:

Public Authorities are not responsible for assessing homelessness or providing housing. Their role is limited to identifying risk and making a referral at the earliest opportunity. Authorities are encouraged to:

  • Build local referral pathways with housing teams
  • Train frontline staff to recognise signs of homelessness risk
  • Integrate the duty into existing processes (e.g. discharge planning, casework).

Role of local housing authorities:

Once a referral is received, the local authority must:

  • Make contact with the individual
  • Assess their situation under homelessness legislation
  • Provide advice and support where eligible.

This may include:

  • Prevention support (help to stay in existing accommodation)
  • Relief support (help to secure new accommodation).

Practical application

When a Public Authority becomes aware that an individual is homeless, or is likely to become homeless within 56 days:

  1. Staff identify risk of homelessness
  2. Consent is obtained
  3. Referral is made to a Local Authority
  4. Local Authority follows up and assesses need.

The full guidance can be accessed here. We encourage homelessness services to be aware of this guidance to ensure Public Authorities are fulfilling their responsibilities.