Advice for professionals

If you are a professional working with a person or family and are worried that they are homeless or at risk of homelessness, you can refer them to our service using our secure online portal or by emailing us.

It is important to tell us as soon as possible that someone is experiencing difficulties, as in many cases, we are able to prevent homelessness before it even occurs.

Some public bodies are subject to a duty to refer (below), but we would ask that all professionals make a commitment to refer customers to our service if you believe they need assistance.

The duty to refer

The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 has placed a duty of specified public bodies to notify a local housing authority of service users they consider may be homeless or threatened with homelessness (for example, it's likely they will become homeless within 56 days).

Before making a referral a public authority must:

• have consent to the referral from the individual
• allow the individual to identify the housing authority in England which they would like the notification to be made to; and
• have consent from the individual that their contact details can be supplied so the housing authority can contact them regarding the referral

The public services included in the duty are as follows:

• prisons
• youth offender institutions
• secure training centres
• secure colleges
• youth offending teams
• probation services (including community rehabilitation companies)
• Jobcentre Plus
• social service authorities
• emergency departments
• urgent treatment centres
• hospitals in their function of providing inpatient care

For more guidance on the Duty to Refer please visit GOV.UK.