Homelessness – Duty to Refer

Adult Care and Children’s Services have a statutory duty to refer people they believe to be homeless or threatened with homelessness (within 56 days) to a local housing authority.  In Lincolnshire, this is the District Councils’ housing teams.  This statutory duty came into effect in 2018 with the introduction of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017.  It is therefore important that Adult Care practitioners are familiar with the requirements and process to do so.

Follow the guidelines on each Lincolnshire District Council’s website, where you will find the ALERT portal (Duty to Refer (housingjigsaw.co.uk)). This portal is a computer system designed to accept and manage referrals.  ALERT is not monitored outside of normal working hours and so for anyone who is homeless on the day of referral outside of standard office hours, contact must also be made to the relevant District Council’s out of hours service (details can be found on each District Council website).

Before making a referral, you must:

1. have consent to the referral from the person(s) being referred;
2. allow the person to identify the housing authority in England to which they would like to be referred;
3. have consent to share the person’s contact details so the housing authority can contact them regarding the referral.

You will need:

1. details for the person, including their preferred method of contact;
2. to confirm that you have consent to the referral from the person(s) being referred.

See the Lincolnshire Duty to Refer Protocol and Rough Sleeping and Duty to Refer contacts for definitions of ‘homeless’ and ‘threatened with homelessness’, and further details such as which housing authority you should contact, concerns with consent and safeguarding, and the next steps.

In the event that you are unable to access the ALERT portal, a generic email address is available to contact below.

Boston - dutytorefer@boston.gov.uk

East Lindsey - dutytorefer@e-lindsey.gov.uk

Lincoln - dutytorefer@lincoln.gov.uk

North Kesteven - housingoptions@n-kesteven.gov.uk

South Holland - dutytorefer@sholland.gov.uk

South Kesteven - dutytorefer@southkesteven.gov.uk

West Lindsey - dutytorefer@west-lindsey.gov.uk