Duty to refer
As of October 2018, certain public authorities must notify a local housing authority in England where one of its service users:
- may be homeless or at risk of homelessness, and
- agrees with the referral
The public authorities with duty to refer are:
- prisons (public and contracted out)
- youth offender institutions and youth offending teams
- secure training centres (public and contracted out) and colleges
- probation services (community rehabilitation companies and national probation service)
- Jobcentre plus
- accident and emergency services provided in a hospital
There is a duty on public bodies to refer any individuals who are:
- prison leavers
- care leavers
- former members of the regular armed forces
- victims of domestic abuse
- people leaving hospital
- persons experiencing mental ill-health
- other groups identified as being at risk of homelessness in a specific authority area
- homeless
- at risk of homelessness
To refer individuals to their local authority
- Sign up to North East duty to refer portal [external link]. Here you can use the referral form.
- Fill out the Duty to refer form [pdf document].
You can find out more information on the Government duty to refer website [external link].
You can also read the North East Local Housing Authorities procedure [pdf document].
Urgent referrals
Please contact us if the referral is urgent and the service user has no accommodation tonight.
You can call the Housing Options team on 01325 405333.
If you need help about homelessness outside of these hours you can call 01642 524552.