Referral to social services

This content applies to England only.

Housing laws vary between England and Scotland. This page applies to England only. Get advice relating to Scotland

If you are homeless and you apply to the council housing department for help, it may refer you to social services for assistance. This section explains when and how the council might try to get social services involved, and what sort of help social services may be able to offer.

In some areas the council housing department and social services are part of the same council (known as 'unitary authorities'). In other areas, social services may be part of the county council while the housing department is part of the city, district or borough council.

When should the council get social services involved?

The council housing department might send you to social services because it has decided it cannot help you, or because it wants social services to help fulfil its duties towards you. Social services only have to help certain groups of people in certain circumstances. This could be because you:

• are under 18
• have left care (or are about to do so)
• are responsible for dependent children
• are an elderly person
• are ill or have physical or mental health needs that are not being met

The council housing department is likely to get social services involved if it decides it has no further duty to help you because of your homelessness application but thinks you may get help from social services. You may also be referred to social services if the council housing department does have a duty to help you because of your homelessness application but it thinks that social services are able to provide more appropriate help (eg if you have difficulty living independently). In this case, if social services do not help, the council housing department still has to help you.

Every council should have set procedures for referring people between housing and social services. This should avoid people being passed back and forth between housing and social services without either department taking responsibility. However, it does sometimes happen that people are passed between departments. If this happens to you, get advice.

How can social services help?

The type of help that social services may offer can vary widely but can be limited. It will depend on your particular circumstances and needs.

Children and young people

Social services have legal duties towards you if you are homeless and:

• aged under 18
• aged under 21 and have been in care

If you fit into one of these categories and the housing department can't help you and you are still homeless, social services may have to help you find accommodation.

The type of help social services provides can vary because it is not defined in law. They might:

• provide accommodation for you themselves
• help you to raise money for a deposit on a private rented place
• provide financial support

The law says that social services have to safeguard the welfare of 'children in need'. Any person aged under 18 is classed as a child. You are considered to be 'in need' if your health and development is at risk. If you are homeless, social services should consider this to have a harmful effect on your health and development.

If you are homeless, 16 or 17 years old and have been in care, social services usually has to provide you with accommodation and financial support until you are 18.

Families with children

Where the whole family asks social services for help, social services only have a duty towards the children and young people in the family (unless the adults have special needs). However, they should aim to help the young person remain with the family. This means that they can provide accommodation for the whole family. Whether they do this or not depends upon them balancing your needs with the demands upon them to help others. If social services decide not to help the whole family they may instead offer to help the children only by providing accommodation in a care home. If this happens, get advice immediately.

People who are ill, disabled or elderly

If you are ill, disabled or elderly and you are homeless, social services may have to provide you with accommodation. This will depend on an assessment of your needs and whether there are any other ways you could get accommodation. If the housing department can't help and you are still homeless, social services may have to help you find accommodation.

The type of help social services provides can vary because it is not defined in law. For example, they might:

• provide accommodation for you themselves
• help you to raise money for a deposit on a private rented place

Once a need has been identified, social services have to provide services that they consider reasonable to meet that need, taking into account the resources available to them.

People with physical or mental health problems

If you have physical or mental health needs and the council housing department can't help you, it is possible that social services may have to help you. This depends on the extent of your needs and your situation as a whole. Get advice if the council has decided it can't help you and you have health needs that are being affected by homelessness.

What if social services won't help either?

If the council has passed you on to social services, but social services cannot help you in the way that you need, get advice. You may be able to challenge social services by making a complaint, or, in extreme cases, taking legal action. The law about the help that social services has to provide can be very complicated, so getting advice is essential if you are in this situation.

Where can I get help?

If you have applied to the council housing department for help and it has told you that it can't help but social services might help, get advice immediately. An adviser can inform you of your rights to help from social services and what sort of help they might offer. An adviser should also be able to look into the reasons why the council has come to that decision, and may be able to put arguments to the council on your behalf. You can get from a housing aid centre, a citizens advice bureau or another local advice agency. Use our directory to get details of advice centres in your area.