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.

Our preferred method to make a referral under the Duty to Refer is through our secure online portal or by emailing us.