why is NOTIFY necessary?

The nature of the temporary accommodation market in London, where households are often placed in or moved to unfamiliar locations away from existing support networks, has led to widespread concern that some households do not receive or know how to access local services. Furthermore, some service providers are finding it increasingly difficult to plan or target their services effectively, as they have inadequate information or knowledge about households moving to their area (eg pre school children requiring health visiting, school age children requiring school places).

Under the Housing Act 1996, local housing authorities are required to notify each other when a homeless household is placed in temporary accommodation within the boundary of another local authority. In addition, the Code of Guidance accompanying the homelessness legislation states that where households have to be temporarily accommodated in the district of another housing authority, the placing housing authority should take positive steps to ensure effective liaison and co-operation between the relevant service departments of both authorities, including housing, social services, environmental health and education.

The Homelessness Code of Guidance also states that authorities should ensure that all babies and young children placed in temporary accommodation have the opportunity to receive health and developmental checks from health visitors and/or other primary health care professionals. It refers housing authorities to guidance issued by the then Department of Transport, Local Government and Regions in a letter in February 2002, which states that when a local authority places a family with babies and young children in temporary accommodation, the housing authority should ensure that the local health authority is notified and that the housing authority should ‘implement robust systems to make sure such notifications are made in a consistent and reliable way’. This applies ‘not only to families placed within the district but also to those transferred to another housing district’. 

which services are notified?

Housing departments, social services departments (SSDs), local education authorities (LEAs) and primary care trusts (PCTs) receive notifications of placements/movements into, within and from their area. Housing departments, SSDs and PCTs receive notification of all households and LEAs receive notification of all households containing school age children.

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