National statistics

Statutory homelessness in England: October to December 2023

Published 30 April 2024

Applies to England

This is the quarterly statistics release for statutory homelessness assessments and activities in England between 1st October and 31st December 2023. It also reports on stock households in temporary accommodation under the statutory homelessness duty in England on 31st December 2023.

Alongside this statistics release, the department also publishes an accompanying technical note, detailed local-authority level data tables, a data dashboard that provides spatial and time-series representation of the data in the data-tables, a performance dashboard that provides a high-level summary of homeless figures by local authority and an info-graphic summarising the key headlines from this release. These publications are available on the statutory homelessness in England webpage.

1. In this release:

Between October to December 2023:

• 88,940 households had initial assessments, up 19.1% from October to December 2022. Our quarterly publication now includes the households who withdrew an application before assessment (5,430) and those that were not eligible or no longer eligible (620) in total number of initial assessments ^{[footnote 1]}. Some of the increase in assessments compared to the same quarter last year is these new categories now being included in our total figures. Without these, there has been a 4.8% increase in overall assessments compared to the same quarter last year.
• From these initial assessments, 78,980 were assessed as owed a duty to prevent or relieve homelessness.
• 34,220 households were assessed as being threatened with homelessness, and therefore owed a prevention duty which is up 4.8% from the same quarter last year. This includes 5,790 households threatened with homelessness due to service of a Section 21 notice to end an Assured Shorthold Tenancy – an increase of 10.9% from the same quarter last year.
• 44,760 households were initially assessed as homeless and therefore owed a relief duty, up 15.8% from the same quarter last year. Households with children owed a relief duty increased 9.3% from the same quarter last year to 11,290 households in October to December 2023.
• 15,440 households were accepted as owed a main homelessness duty, up 15.3% from October to December 2022. This reflects the increase in households with children owed a relief duty this quarter (9.3%) and last quarter (8.6%) compared to previous year.
• On 31st December 2023, 112,660 households were in temporary accommodation, which is an increase of 12.1% from 31st December 2022. Compared to the previous quarter, the number of households in temporary accommodation had increased by 3.4%.
• Households with children in temporary accommodation increased by 15.0% to 71,280, and single households increased by 7.4% to 41,380 from the 31st December 2022. Compared to the previous quarter there was a 2.4% increase in households with children, and a 5.3% increase in households without children in temporary accommodation.

We would welcome any feedback to help shape future publications by completing this user engagement survey.

Release date: 30 April 2024

Date of next release:  Summer 2024

Contact: 0303 444 8433 / homelessnessstatistics@levellingup.gov.uk (Responsible Statistician: Madeha Asim)

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.

Chart 1 shows the time series for the number of households owed a prevention or relief duty since Q2 2019.

3. Household composition

3.1 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.

In October to December 2023, 53,610 single households were owed a prevention or relief duty, up 14.4% from October to December 2022. The number of households with children owed a prevention or relief duty also increased 4.0% from October to December 2022 to 25,370.

Like previous quarters, single households were more likely to have homeless applications taken when already homeless and so are owed a relief duty (62.4%), whereas households with children are more likely to have an application taken when threatened with homelessness (55.5%).

4. Reasons for homelessness

4.1 Tables A2P and A2R

End of private rented Assured Shorthold Tenancy was the most common reason for households being owed a prevention duty, accounting for 12,750 or 37.3% of households. This is an increase of 5.7% from the same quarter last year. The most common recorded reasons households were owed a prevention duty due to the end of an AST were related to: landlord wishing to sell the property (5,400), followed by landlord wishing to re-let the property (2,470).

A breakdown of households owed a prevention duty due to the end of an AST shows the biggest increase was due to rent arrears from increase in rent, which increased by 122.2% from the same quarter last year. Despite the large relative increase, end of AST from rent arrears due to an increase in rent, still only represent a relatively small number of households (400 households).

The second most common reason for those owed a prevention duty was family or friends no longer willing or able to accommodate, accounting for 7,670 or 22.4% of households owed a prevention duty, down 12.8% from the same quarter last year.

Other notable changes for households owed a prevention duty include: - an increase of 173.1% in requirement to leave accommodation provided by the Home Office as asylum support to 1,830 households - an increase of 37.7% in departure from institution with no accommodation available to 950 households - a decrease of 16.7% in other violence or harassment to 450 households

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 12,520 or 28.0% of households owed a relief duty, up 2.9% from the same quarter last year. The second most common reason for those owed a relief duty was due to domestic abuse, accounting for 6,470 or 14.5% of households owed a relief duty. This had increased 2.7% from the same quarter last year.

Other notable changes from the same quarter last year for households owed a relief duty include: - an increase of 363.1% in requirement to leave accommodation provided by the Home Office as asylum support to 5,140 households - an increase of 21.0% in departure from institution with no accommodation available to 2,420 households - a decrease of 12.4% in other violence or harassment to 1,340 households

5. Current accommodation

5.1 Tables A4P and A4R

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.

The most common type of accommodation at the time of application for those owed a prevention duty was in the private rented sector (44.4%), up 7.2% from October to December 2022 to 15,210 households. This is consistent with the reasons for threat of homelessness for those owed prevention duties (described above). For those owed relief duty, those in the private rented sector at the time of application accounted for 13.9% of households, up 6.9% from the same period last quarter to 6,200 households.

The most common type of accommodation for households owed a relief duty was living with family (21.5%), which increased by 4.2% from October to December 2022 to 9,630 households. For those owed a prevention duty, households living with family at the time of application had decreased 6.7% to 7,760 households.

The number of households owed a relief duty who were rough sleeping on approach increased by 12.2% from October to December 2022 to 4,500 households, and those reporting no fixed abode rose 2.0% to 5,020 households.

6. Duty to refer

6.1 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.

7.8% or 6,920 of the 88,940 assessments made were as a result of referrals from public bodies under the duty to refer. Of the assessments carried out from a duty to refer referral, 6,320 resulted in a homelessness duty. Criminal justice system organisations (Adult Secure Estate, Youth Secure Estate, Probation Service Community Rehabilitation Companies) made the most duty to refer referrals to homelessness services. These totalled 3,110 assessments made, (representing 44.9% of total assessments from a duty to refer referral), an increase of 24.4% from October to December 2022.

Other notable changes in the number of assessments due to referrals from public bodies since October to December 2022 include: - an increase of 32.1% in assessments due to referrals from mental health in-patient care to 370 households - and an increase of 27.6% in assessments due to referrals from hospital A&E, urgent treatment centres or in-patient care to 970 households

7. Other demographics

7.1 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.

Support Needs

Of all households owed either a prevention or relief duty, 43,080 or 54.5% of households identified as having one or more support needs. The most common support need was for those with history of mental health problems, accounting for 20,690 or 26.2% of households owed a homelessness duty. The second most common was for those with physical ill health and disability accounting for 15,150 or 19.2% of households owed a duty.

Other notable groups include:

• those at risk of or with experience of domestic abuse (11.0%)
• those with offending history (8.2%)
• those with a history of repeat homelessness (6.9%)

The largest changes in reported support needs for households owed a duty since October to December 2022 include:

• an increase of 193.0% in those with a former asylum seeker support need to 3,780 households

• an increase of 24.5% in those with a support need due to old age to 1,370  households

• an increase of 16.5% in those with a support need due to physical ill health and disability to 15,150  households

Age

The overall increase in the number of households owed a prevention or relief duty in October to December 2023 compared to the previous year was driven by increases in lead applicants aged 35 and over. As in recent quarters, greater increases are being seen in households with lead applicants from older age groups. The largest increases were for the age groups:

• 55-64 up 15.5% to 6,350 households
• 65-74 up 14.9% to 2,470
• 75+ up 14.3% to 880

On the other hand, those aged 16-17 fell by 17.2% to 480 households.

Ethnicity

The majority of households owed a prevention or relief duty were where the lead applicant was White (59.4%), followed by households where the lead applicant was Black (11.4%) or Asian (8.1%). Compared to the same quarter in the previous year, the number of households owed a prevention or relief duty where the lead applicant was:

• Asian increased by 33.9%, to 6,400 households

• From mixed or multiple ethnic groups increased by 26.1%, to 2,900

• Black increased by 16.9%, to 8,970

• White fell by 0.5%, to 46,940

• From an Other ^{[footnote 2]}  ethnic group increased by 89.8%, to 5,750

• Of unknown ethnic group increased by 26.3% , to 8,010

Employment Status

Compare to October to December 2022 , the employment status that saw the largest increases in lead applicants of homelessness duty were those who were:

• not registered but seeking work up 33.9% to 3,280 households

• registered unemployed up 17.7% to 28,760

• not working due to long-term illness/disability up 11.6% to 10,810

• retired up 10.4% to 2,340

On the other hand, there were small decreases in households with lead applicants who were  in full-time (down 1.3% to 10,170) or part-time work (down 0.8% to 7,540). There were also decreases in the number of households with a lead applicant with an ‘Other’ (fell by 50.6% to 2,730) or ‘Not known’ (2.4% to 3,270) employment status classification.

In recent quarters we started reporting on several other employment status options. These are:

• Registered employed, but off work due to ill health/disability (1,280 , or 1.6% of households owed a duty in October to December 2023)
• Registered employed, but off work on maternity/paternity/adoption leave (720 or 0.9% of households)
• Working irregular hours (1,930 or 2.4% of households)

8. Outcomes

8.1 Tables P1 and R1

In October to December 2023, prevention duty ended for 33,400 households, up 2.4% from the same quarter last year.

Just over half of the prevention duties ended (17,450 or 52.2%) with the household securing accommodation for 6 months or more and their homelessness had been prevented. This is similar proportion to the same period last year (down 0.8 percentage points). Of these households who secured accommodation at the end of their prevention duty 6,050 or 34.7%, were able to remain in their existing home, up 2.2 percentage points from this time last year.

A total of 8,250 (24.7%) of households whose prevention duty ended and were homeless at the end of the prevention duty and were subsequently owed a relief duty, up 1.1 percentage points from the same quarter last year.

This quarter 49,790 households had a relief duty end, which is up 11.1% from the same quarter last year.

Of the 49,790 relief duties ended this quarter, 16,550 or 33.2% of households had accommodation secured for at least 6 months, down 2.6 percentage points from the same quarter last year. Of these, 73.4% (12,150) were single households, up 0.8 percentage points from the same quarter last year. This outcome was followed by 23,740, or 47.7% of households whose relief duty ended because their homelessness had not been relieved within 56 days, meaning their local authority would need to assess whether a main duty is owed, this is up 3.1 percentage points from the same quarter last year.

9. Main homelessness duty

9.1 Tables MD1, MD2 and MD3

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 need. These households are only owed a main duty if they did not secure accommodation in the prevention or relief stage, and so main duty  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.

In October to December 2023, local authorities made 22,630 main duty decisions for eligible households.

• 15,440 main duties were accepted, as the household was judged to be homeless, with priority need, and unintentionally homeless. This is an increase of 15.3% in the absolute number of households with a main duty accepted compared to October to December 2022. Main duties accepted represented 68.2% of all main duty decisions in the quarter. This is down 3.0 percentage points, reflecting that a lower proportion of households had a main duty accepted compared to the previous year.
• 980 decisions were that a main duty was not owed as the household was assessed to be homeless and have priority need, but judged as intentionally homeless. This is an increase of 12.6% in the absolute number of households compared to October to December 2022. These decisions represented 4.3% of all main duty decisions in the quarter. This proportion is largely the same compared to the same quarter last year (down 0.3 percentage points).
• 5,970 were not owed a main duty as the household was assessed as homeless but with no priority need. This is  an increase of 40.5% in the absolute number of households compared to October to December 2022. These decisions represented 26.4% of all main duty decisions in the quarter. This is up 3.8 percentage points, reflecting that a higher proportion of households are being assessed as homeless with no priority need compared to the same period last year.
• 240 were not owed a main duty as the household was assessed as not homeless. This is  a decrease of 14.3% in the absolute number of households compared to October to December 2022. These decisions represented 1.1% of all main duty decisions in the quarter. This proportion is largely the same compared to the same quarter last year (down 0.4 percentage points).

Other points to note:

• The number of households with children owed a main duty increased by 11.0% from the same quarter last year to 8,070 households. This reflects the increase in households with children owed a relief duty (8.9%) in April to September 2023, compared to the same two 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 by 31.2% to 1,220 from July to September 2022, reflecting an increase in households who were homeless or threatened with homelessness due to domestic abuse over the last year.

Chart 2: Number of households by outcome of main duty assessment

Chart 2 shows the number of households by outcome of main duty assessment for Q4 2022 and Q4 2023.

In October to December 2023, 11,180 households had their main homelessness duty come to an end, up 16.6% from October to December 2022. Of these households, 8,920 households accepted an offer of settled accommodation, up 16.8% from the same quarter last year. Households accepting an accommodation offer represented 79.8% of all main duties ending in the quarter, a similar proportion to last year (up 0.1 percentage points).

10. Temporary accommodation

10.1 Table TA1

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 local authority has reason to believe may have priority need, or on an interim basis in other circumstances such as pending the outcome of a review on a homelessness decision.

112,660 households were in temporary accommodation on 31st December 2023, up 3.4% from the previous quarter and up 12.1% from the same time last year. The number of single households in temporary accommodation rose 5.3% from the previous quarter and rose 7.4% from the same time last year to 41,380. Households with children increased 2.4% from the previous quarter and increased 15.0% from 31st December 2022 to 71,280.

On 31st December 2023, there were 17.4 households living in temporary accommodation per 1,000 households in London, compared with 2.4 households per 1,000 in the Rest of England. Newham London Borough had the highest rate of temporary accommodation in London with 53.1 households per 1,000 households. Slough Borough Council had the highest rate outside London with 15.1 households per 1,000 households.

33,350 or 29.6% of households in temporary accommodation were in accommodation in a different local authority district. 79.1% of these out of district placements were from London authorities.

Chart 3 shows the time series for the number of households in temporary accommodation since Q2 2019 by household type.

Of the households in temporary accommodation, 15,950 were living in bed and breakfast (B&B) accommodation, up 33.0% from the same time last year. Of these households in B&B, 11,390 (71.4%) were single households, up 25.7% from the same time last year. The number of households in B&B with dependent children increased 55.6% to 4,560 households in 31st December 2023.

Of the households with children in B&B, 2,960 had been resident for more than the statutory limit of 6 weeks. This is up 83.9% from 1,610 on 31st December 2022, and up 10.9% from 2,670 in the previous quarter.

Overall, 71,280 households or 63.3% of households in temporary accommodation included dependent children, with 145,800 dependent children living in temporary accommodation.

Chart 4 shows the number of households in temporary accommodation by temporary accommodation and household type.

11. 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 developed an action plan detailing how and when the requirements identified in the assessment report would be met.

These statistics have now been labelled Accredited Official Statistics. See information on Accredited Official Statistics is available via the UK Statistics Authority website.

These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in October 2023 (see confirmation of accreditation). They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’

Please note that Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

More information on the UK statistical system is available via the UK Statistics Authority website. Information about statistics at DLUHC is available via the Department’s website.

12. 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 1st October and 31st December 2023.
• All figures except for 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 notes. Further information about official statistics is also available on the UK Statistics Authority and Statistics at DLUHC website.

13. 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
• To estimate the total number of people sofa surfing, those in recreational or organised protest, those in squats, or 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

14. Accompanying tables

The live 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
• 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 main duty decisions & 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

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 2022-23 Detailed local authority level tables.

15. Technical information

Please see the technical notes for further details on the data used for this release.

1. We have been made aware of an issue with some local authority data recording processes, meaning that a large number of cases are being incorrectly recorded as “withdrew an application before assessment” in some areas. This affects national and regional totals for this category and for overall households assessed (published data table A1). Currently these figures are likely to be substantial overestimates. This is being investigated and will be corrected in future quarters. However this does not have an impact on the figures for total number of households owed prevention or relief duties (published tables A2P to A12), or in figures in other sections. ↩

2. Other ethnic group is defined as Arab or any other ethnic group that is not White, Asian, Black or Mixed ethnic group. ↩