The information provided in the dataset is drawn from the P1E Form-Quarterly Homelessness Returns.
The Quarterly P1E Form collects data from English LAs on the discharge of their responsibilities under the homelessness legislation. It looks at LA activity under the homelessness provisions of the 1985 and 1996 Housing Acts.

Frequency: Financial Year

UK Open Government Licence
Last Update
6 years ago  
Type of information
Data summary
1 file
Homelessness (5.07 kB)Jan 2008 — Dec 2015

Homeless acceptances:

Households found to be eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and falling within a priority need group (as defined below), during each quarter, are referred to as “acceptances”. These households are consequently owed a main homelessness duty by a local housing authority, under part VII of the Housing Act 1996 (and any residual 1985 Housing Act cases). The main duty is to secure settled accommodation.

Priority need groups includes the following: 

- Households that are homeless as a result of a emergency (e.g. flood, fire); 

- Households with dependent children or a pregnant woman; 

- applicants aged 16 and 17; 

- applicants aged 18 to 20 who were previously in care; 

- applicants or member of their household who are vulnerable in some way, due to mental illness, physical disability, old age, drug dependency, alcohol dependency, former asylum seeker, other special reason

- Applicant who is vulnerable as a result of having been ‘in care’; having served in HM Forces; having been in custody/on remand; having fled their home because of violence/threat of violence.

Temporary accommodation:

Households in temporary accommodation on the last day of the financial year (31st March), as arranged by a local housing authority as a discharge of their statutory homelessness functions. In most cases, the authority is discharging a main homelessness duty to secure suitable accommodation until a settled home becomes available for the applicant and his/her household. However, the numbers also include households provided with accommodation pending a decision on their homelessness application, households pending a review or appeal to the county court of the decision on their case, or possible referral to another local authority, and households found to be intentionally homeless and in priority need who were being accommodated for such period as would give them a reasonable opportunity to find accommodation for themselves.

Homelessness as recorded in the P1E