Duty, commitment, and pledge to refer

Starting from 1 October 2018, certain public authorities must inform Wakefield Council's Housing Needs Service if they believe someone may be homeless or at risk of becoming homeless within the next 56 days. This is required by Section 213B of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2018.

The public authorities with a duty to make this referral are:

• prisons
• youth offending institutions
• secure training centre
• secure colleges
• youth offending teams
• probation Services
• jobcentre Plus
• social services authorities
• emergency departments
• urgent treatment centres
• hospitals in their function of providing hospital inpatient care

If you work for one of the above authorities and need to make a referral you must do so with:

The consent of the person being referred, who has:

• advised they would like to be referred in the Wakefield district, and
• consented to their contact details to be given. This is in order that the Housing Needs Service can communicate with them regarding their housing situation

When referring to the Housing Needs Service we will need:

• your name and the public body you represent and your contact details
• the name of the person being referred and their:
  • contact details
  • date of birth
  • National Insurance number
  • NHS number
• the reason for the referral. For example: this person is homeless or at risk of being homeless within the next 56 days
• confirmation that you have the permission of the person you are referring

More details about the Duty to Refer on gov.uk

In addition to these public bodies, there are several partner organisations, that also have contact with individuals experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness.

Many Housing Associations have shown their dedication to supporting homelessness. They have done this by signing the National Housing Federation's Commitment to Refer. This aligns with the Duty to Refer mentioned earlier. The Pledge to Refer goes even further by enabling all key partners to make referrals.

Referrals can now be made direct to Wakefield Council, using a system known as Alert.

• to be able to use Alert you will need to register at https://live.housingjigsaw.co.uk/alert/duty-to-refer and set up a password

This system allows the referrer to securely send all the referral information through to the council electronically. This includes the functionality of being able to see who you referred, and the date and status of that referral.

Should you need to make a referral by downloading, printing, and emailing a referral you are still able to do so using the form here. Please note this will not offer the functionality of the Alert system.

If you are dealing with someone who is homeless, and our offices are closed you can contact 0345 8 506 506 for advice. This is an emergency contact service only. It should only be used if there are no other temporary solutions available until our offices are open.