Duty to refer North East procedure

The Homelessness Reduction Act introduced a legal duty requiring specified public authorities to refer service users that may be homeless or threatened with homelessness within 56 days to a Local Housing Authorities (LHA) in England. The majority of the provisions from the HRA came into force on 3rd April 2018 but this new duty on public authorities is in force from 1st October 2018.

1.2 Who is this procedure for?

The following public authorities are specified within the regulations and are subject to the legal duty:

• prisons (public and private)
• youth offender institutions
• secure training centres
• secure colleges
• youth offending teams
• probation services (including community rehabilitation companies)
• Jobcentre Plus
• accident and emergency departments
• social service authorities
• urgent treatment centres (including community and primary urgent centres, minor injury units and walk in centres)
• hospitals in their function of providing in-patient treatment
• regular forces (Royal Navy, the Royal Marines, the regular army and the Royal Air Force)
• North East authorities are also willing to accept referrals from other agency willing to participate but not listed by the regulations.

1.3 What the regulations say

In terms of the minimum legal requirements, the regulations state:

• public authorities set out in the schedule will have a duty to refer people in England they consider may be homeless or threatened with becoming homeless within 56 days to local housing authorities (LHAs)
• public authorities are required to ask the customer, and need consent for the referral and the sharing of their contact details
• the individual should identify which LHA they would like to be referred to (in England) 
• a referral should include, at a minimum, the individual's contact details, consent, and agreed reason for the referral (i.e. homeless or threatened with homelessness)
• the referral in itself does not constitute an application for assistance under Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996

1.4 What the code says

The statutory code of guidance is intended to help housing authorities and other public authorities implement the law in practice, and offers the following guidance on the duty to refer:

• the duty should be incorporated into wider joint working arrangements and the local homelessness strategy
• local referral procedures should focus on identifying people at risk as early as possible
• housing authorities are responsible for setting up local procedures for managing referrals. They should be tailored to each public authority (who have ultimate responsibility for discharging their duty)
• it is recommended housing authorities set up a single point of contact for submitting referrals
• housing authorities should include information about how they will respond to referrals
• referring authorities should be mindful that for certain individuals, it may be more appropriate to assist them to approach a housing authority directly rather than a referral
• local areas should consider issues of multiple and repeat referrals and agree protocols with service partners to mitigate these
• authorities are encouraged to establish arrangements with partners that go beyond referral procedures, aiming to maximize the impact of shared efforts on positive outcomes for service users who may have multiple needs. Such arrangements can advance the objectives of partner agencies and deliver efficiencies for the public purse

1.5 What does the duty seek to achieve?

There are varied and sometimes complex reasons behind a person's homelessness and many people come into contact with a range of public services before reaching a homelessness crisis or approaching a LHA for advice. The duty to refer is intended to help people get access to homelessness services as soon as possible so their homelessness can be prevented or relieved in a timely manner.