Housing options (PREVENT1) statistics in Scotland: 2023-24

Introduction

This statistics bulletin provides information on Housing Options services in Scotland from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.

The statistics are based on administrative data collected by local authorities in the course of providing Housing Options services that are available when households seek assistance for housing-related issues.

The bulletin includes information on the number of approaches made, details on the reasons for the approaches made, the activities undertaken, and the outcomes achieved. It also draws comparisons to trends within our most recent homelessness statistics publication.

The bulletin focusses on data at a national level due to differences in how local authorities implement Housing Options. Local authority breakdowns are available in an Excel workbook containing tables, which can be downloaded from the supporting documents page.

An Official Statistics in Development Publication for Scotland

These statistics are official statistics in development. Official statistics in development may be new or existing statistics, and will be tested with users, in line with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Local authorities tend to focus resources on the delivery of statutory services and the recording of associated information. The non-statutory nature of Housing Options means that local authorities will often ramp up and scale down such activity depending on their needs and resource availability. For these reasons, although the data is subject to thorough quality assurance checks, it is often difficult to a) identify data quality concerns and b) if identified, resolve these fully.

Work is on-going with local authorities to improve the quality of the data. Improvement to this data also falls under the remit of the homelessness statistics data review project which seeks to ensure all homelessness – and prevention of - data collection content is fit for purpose and of high quality. This project involves engagement with a large range of stakeholders to shape future data collections. In addition, the Scottish Government has introduced legislation to the Scottish Parliament which includes new duties aimed at the prevention of homelessness through the Housing (Scotland) Bill. This would remove the non-statutory nature of, and increase priority on, homelessness prevention in future, which should lead to an improvement in data quality.

Scottish Government statistics are regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

More information about Scottish Government statistics is available on the Scottish Government website.

A quick guide to Housing Options

Local authorities have a statutory duty to ensure advice and information is available free of charge about:

• homelessness and the prevention of homelessness, and
• any services which may assist a homeless person or assist in the prevention of homelessness.

When households seek assistance for housing-related issues from their local authority, they may be presented with advice on a range of Housing Options, including the opportunity to make a homelessness application. This is known as Housing Options and began to be implemented from around 2009.

The aim of this approach is to make households aware of their options for accommodation, and ensure they can make a more informed choice.

However, it is important to note that Housing Options is not a statutory function, but local authorities can use it in the delivery of their statutory duties.