Homelessness in Scotland: 2017 to 2018

Notes on Tables

Please note:

All of the tables and charts in this publication are available in electronic format at:

http://www.gov.scot/homelessstats

HL1 and HL2 recording

We are grateful to all 32 Scottish Local Authorities who submitted their HL1 and HL2 returns on time.

Given the continuous nature of the recording system, figures are updated on an on-going basis and may differ from those previously published. There may be delays in some cases being reported to the Scottish Government due to IT issues, quality assurance processes and delayed entry of data – particularly at the end of the financial year. As a result, we estimate that the headline number of applications may change by as much as 1% between first and subsequent publications.

Reporting of the Number of Applications

Publication Date	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18
19-Jun-18	60,542	59,586	57,325	57,672	57,212	55,640	45,537	40,028	36,825	35,964	34,939	34,570	34,972
27-Jun-17	60,560	59,590	57,327	57,676	57,213	55,642	45,545	40,036	36,819	35,946	34,926	34,100
28-Jun-16	60,568	59,596	57,337	57,682	57,217	55,646	45,551	40,040	36,824	35,949	34,662
30-Jun-15	60,662	59,554	57,253	57,682	57,220	55,646	45,552	40,051	37,234	35,764
24-Jun-14	60,662	59,555	57,255	57,688	57,228	55,651	45,550	40,050	36,457
16-Jul-13	60,684	59,609	57,208	57,676	57,211	55,644	45,547	39,827
26-Jun-12	60,698	59,608	57,211	57,681	57,214	55,663	45,322
30-Aug-11	60,820	59,654	57,239	57,668	57,122	55,227
Difference in applications between publication shown and most recent publication
27-Jun-17	- 18	- 4	- 2	- 4	- 1	- 2	- 8	- 8	6	18	13	470
28-Jun-16	- 26	- 10	- 12	- 10	- 5	- 6	- 14	- 12	1	15	277
30-Jun-15	- 120	32	72	- 10	- 8	- 6	- 15	- 23	- 409	200
24-Jun-14	- 120	31	70	- 16	- 16	- 11	- 13	- 22	368
16-Jul-13	- 142	- 23	117	- 4	1	- 4	- 10	201
26-Jun-12	- 156	- 22	114	- 9	- 2	- 23	215
30-Aug-11	- 278	- 68	86	4	90	413
Percentage difference in applications between publication shown and most recent publication
27-Jun-17	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	1%
28-Jun-16	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	1%
30-Jun-15	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	-1%	1%
24-Jun-14	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	1%
16-Jul-13	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	1%
26-Jun-12	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%
30-Aug-11	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	1%

The data over time

In 2001, the Scottish Parliament passed legislation which placed additional duties on Local Authorities to provide a minimum of temporary accommodation, advice and assistance to all applicants assessed as homeless. From September 2002, this took effect and councils have been required to provide temporary accommodation, advice and assistance to non-priority applicants who in the past would have received advice and assistance only. This has had a noticeable impact on applications, which has been reflected in changing assessments and outcomes for homeless people. Some tables in this release therefore present time series data so that this impact can be tracked.

In December 2001, the Scottish Government changed the data collection system for the case-based HL1 return to provide more detailed information on applications by individual households and to allow more timely reporting. This entailed changing to an electronic data capture system which allows cases to be registered and updated on a continuous basis, as well as enabling applications made by the same household to be linked.

The data collection system introduced in December 2001 allows analysis by individual households and the identification of repeat applications. However, this is not the case for earlier data and so analyses comparing data over longer time periods will tend to refer to applications rather than individual households. This is also the case for analyses of flow through the assessment process where repeat applications by the same individual household might be assessed differently and have different outcomes. For other analyses, it is useful to distinguish individual households and so the unit of analysis (applications or individual households) is specified in the footnotes for each table.

The data collection was further revised in April 2007 in the light of the Homelessness etc. (Scotland) Act 2003, with some additional information included to reflect current best practice. Further information on the HL1 can be found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/15257/HL1revisions.

Interpretation of statistics on temporary accommodation

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 summary HL2 return (since 2002) has provided a snapshot picture of the numbers of households in temporary accommodation as at the last day of each quarter.

In June 2005, the HL2 return was revised in order to monitor the implementation of the Homeless Persons (Unsuitable Accommodation) (Scotland) Order 2004. The revised return records the number of households with children or pregnant women in temporary accommodation as at the end of the quarter, the number of those in unsuitable accommodation as defined by the Order, and the number of those in accommodation which breaches the Order. Not all use of unsuitable accommodation is in breach of the Order as such use may be allowed under exceptional circumstances as defined in the Order (see summary of legislation below).

Since April 2016, it has been mandatory for local authorities to also complete an HL3 return, which provides placement level information on households in temporary accommodation. By providing placement level information, it is possible to provide in-depth analysis of the temporary accommodation use, for example, length of stay in temporary accommodation.

How we maintain quality

HL1 and HL2

The quality of this publication depends critically on the quality and consistency of the information supplied to us by Local Authorities on the HL1 and HL2 returns. The quality statement on the Scottish homelessness statistics website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/15257/quality sets out the ways in which we do this. The main focus of our systems is to ensure consistency between the HL1 and HL2 and consistency of the case level information within each HL1 return.

HL3

The quality of the additional temporary accommodation analysis provided in this publication also relies on the information supplied by local authorities. From April 2016, it became mandatory for local authorities to submit placement level information on temporary accommodation through the HL3 return. The Scottish Government have been working with local authorities to quality assure this data. This has involved comparison with snapshot HL2 figures at the end of each quarter and further, consistency checks with associated HL1 records.

The ‘Tables’ document, which is published alongside this document (and available here: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/RefTables) provides an additional ‘HL3 Data Quality’ tab with a local authority breakdown. Some local authorities have a larger than 10% difference between the number of households in temporary accommodation recorded through their HL2 versus their HL3 data as at 31^st March 2018 (Fife, Orkney, Midlothian and Perth and Kinross). Reasons for these differences are given below the table.

Highland is highlighted in the table because it is the only local authority which has a large proportion of HL3 records which do not match with an HL1 record on the Scottish Government’s data system. For this reason, Highland are caveated in all tables where HL3 household level analysis is carried out as numbers are likely to be subject to change to incorporate future data revisions and corrections.

How we deal with revisions and corrections

Our approach to revisions and corrections is set out in detail on the Scottish homelessness statistics website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/15257/revisionpolicy. In summary, published statistics and supporting reference tables are generally revised when the figures next appear in any publication. However, if a revision is significant resulting in a major change to the published figures a note showing the revisions will be published as soon as possible on the homelessness statistics website. It will also be distributed to all known recipients of the originally published data via email and the ScotStat mailing list.

How we consult with users and providers of statistics

Local Authorities in Scotland provide homelessness statistics as a by-product of their administration of Scottish homelessness legislation. The main users of homelessness statistics are Local Authorities, housing associations, The Scottish Government and voluntary bodies such as Shelter, Homeless Action Scotland and Crisis. In November 2011, we re-established the Scottish homelessness statistics user provider group with representatives of providers and users of the statistics. We aim for the group to meet once a year. The minutes and papers from meetings of the group can be found on the Scottish homelessness statistics website at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/15257/22540.