Scottish Government

Statistical Bulletin HSG/2003/5
Operation of the Homeless Persons Legislation in Scotland: National and Local Authority Analyses 2002-03

5. Notes and definitions

5.1 Statistics on persons applying to local authorities under the Homeless Persons legislation are collected using two returns:

• the homeless household case return (HL1), which collects details of each applicant household
• the quarterly summary return (HL2) which collects aggregate information on

• a. the number of applications received during the quarter (since 1990)

  b. the number of cases concluded during the quarter (since 1987)

  c. the number of households in various types of temporary accommodation at the end of the quarter (including households with dependent children from June 2001).

These returns are submitted to the Scottish Executive by local authorities, who have statutory duties under the legislation.

5.2 Authorities complete an HL1 return for each household which presents itself to the authority as homeless or potentially homeless. The unit of the return is the household, not the person. Prior to December 2001, a paper-based data collection system was used where a household was counted each time it applied - so that one household could appear in the statistics on more than one occasion during the year. Under this system, it was not possible to identify these repeat applications. The electronic system introduced in December 2001 allows the compilation of statistics on individual households and the linking of repeat applications made by the same household. The returns include households that apply to the authority even if the authority does not regard them as qualifying for assistance under the legislation. It should be noted, however, that households that do not approach an authority for assistance, for example persons sleeping rough who consider there is little likelihood of the authority providing them with accommodation, are not included in the statistics.

5.3 Under the electronic system, HL1 returns are submitted to the Scottish Executive on a quarterly basis, and are updated on a continuous basis as the application progresses until the case is completed. A case is completed when either:

a. the authority secures accommodation for the applicant
b. the authority transfers the household to another authority
c. the authority determines that no action is necessary under the legislation
d. contact with the applicant is lost, which is considered to have happened 28 days after the date of the last interview.

5.4 Cases take varying lengths of time to reach conclusion, and some tend to take a considerable number of months. For this reason, the information presented in this bulletin may differ from previous publications since figures are updated as more information becomes available.

5.5 Most of the information presented in this bulletin is derived from the HL1 return. However, prior to December 2001, we know that the HL1 returns did not represent all of the households that applied in each year, either because returns failed to be submitted, or because cases had not reached a conclusion. The number of HL1 returns received for any year was usually less than the number of applicant households recorded through the HL2 return, even allowing time for cases to reach conclusion. Therefore, for data between 1992-93 and December 2001, figures were grossed up to the total number of applications recorded on the HL2 returns. It was assumed that the cases which were not been submitted showed the same characteristics as those that had, for example that the distribution of household types among those cases not returned was the same as among those cases which had been returned.

5.6 The figures on households in temporary accommodation relate to households which have been placed in temporary accommodation by a local authority under the Homeless Persons legislation. This will include households for whom the local authority's decision and final action is still pending, as well as households which were secured such accommodation as a final action by the authority under the legislation. The data present a snapshot picture of the numbers in temporary accommodation as at the last day of each quarter.

5.7 Hostels, as temporary accommodation under the Homeless Persons legislation, are used mainly by Glasgow. In fact, almost all households in hostels in Glasgow have been placed there by the authority under the Homeless Persons legislation. In other authorities, particularly in the cities, there are many households in hostels that have not been placed there by the local authority under the Homeless Persons legislation. Consequently, they are not recorded in the statistics.

5.8 Households with dependent children include those aged under 16 who are in full time education, those aged 18 or less who are receiving or about to begin full-time education or training, and those who are for some other reason unable to support themselves.

Additional tables may be obtained from Housing Statistics on request. See back cover for contact details. Housing statistics publications, including printable Adobe portable document format and Excel versions of the tables, are available in the published data section of the Housing Statistics reference website: www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/housing/hsbref .

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