Why Better Data Could Change Youth Homelessness

Design and data analysis: Ben Heubl, October 2015

'Troubles with the data'

Centrepoint’s investigation revealed that there were discrepancies between the data reported to the charity (as a response to the FOI requests made to local authorities) and the official data reported by the Department for Communities and Local Government during the same period.

According to Centrepoint’s most recent report, England's 12,000 16-17 year olds who approached their local authorities for help because they were homeless in 2013/2014 could hardly be found in official homelessness statistics as the majority of data reporting on this group is handled by the Department for Education. Furthermore, there has been a huge increase in data not being adequately reported to the government. This resulted in missing data: one quarter of figures reported to government about statutory homelessness by age for January-March 2015 were either missing or not correctly reported. [Footnote: they updated this data in September] Centrepoint’s message is clear. There is a massive need for better data. More specifically, there is a need for more age specific data about prevention and relief to understand the effects of this kind of support.

"Our FOI results make it clear that many local authorities are already providing extensive support beyond their statutory duties, but that many young people are still being turned away without practical support.",

UK Youth Homelessness Charity Centrepoint.org.uk

1. How big is the discrepancy between the number of young people asking for help and the number being assessed?

According to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests by UK youth homelessness charity Centrepoint, the divide is significant. In the map below you can see how well local authorities are able to deal with the demand of young people asking for help and how many end up actually being assessed to determine whether they qualify for statutory help. While Local authorities such as North East Lincolnshire, or London’s borough of Kensington and Chelsea responded to the FOI request showing their ability to assess 100 percent of young people who asked for help, other local authorities such as Waverley, Rushcliffe, Blaby or Forest of Dean were not even be able to manage to assess 3 percent of youngsters who presented and asked for help in 2014. If young people who seek help at their local authorise are not being properly assessed, they do have the chance to access government support, and many are driven further into homelessness.

Local authorities which did not provide sufficient data for the maps below (that either did not bother to report on how many youngsters were assessed, how many did present, or both) clearly have an unfair advantage (in the map, these are all the authorities coloured in dark-grey). More data transparency from these local authorities which did not respond to Centrepoint’s requests is required to be able to properly assess the issues of youth homelessness in the UK.

According to the latest report by Centrepoint, it is expected that at least 30,000- 40,000 young people who experience or are at risk of homelessness are currently turned away from their local authority every year in England and Wales.

legend2

2014: Number of Homeless 16-24 Year-olds
Who Presented vs. Who Were Being Assessed

legend1
Reset All
Local Authority How many young people receive an assessment,
who asked for help at their local authority in 2014 (FOI Data)?
Reset All

2. Where is the "Important Data"? legend2

How many successful FOI responses were there? legend2

Categorisation (y: Number of Successful Freedom of Information (FOI) Requests, x: Number of 16 - 24 year-olds who present at a local authority)

That there are issues in accessing the data has already been mentioned. When counting the responses from the FOI requests, it becomes clear that the majority of responses came from authorities able to well meet the demand for assessment of 16-24 year-olds who present themselves. This comes as no surprise; it is rather easy to report something good. Does this mean that good performing authorities are willing to give up their data more easily, and that authorities that have trouble to meet the demand are less willing to share it? Maybe!

According to Centrepoint, FOI responses were received from 275 local authorities, which amounted to 73% of the total. 75% from English authorities and 82% of Welsh local authorities were received too. 11% refused to report under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act.

Reset All

Why is there a Difference Between Official Data vs. Youth Homelessness Data from FOI Requests?

Comparing the responses that Centrepoint’s investigation gathered with the official numbers, it quickly becomes clear that many local authorities reported different numbers and statistics in their FOI response (if they happened to respond as all). This is a problem. In the map below there is a comparison between the data from Centrepoint (left) and the official data (on the right) on so called ‘statutory youth homelessness’ for 2014. To compare the different local authorities with equal weight, the index is broken down into the number of accepted as statutory homeless 16 to 24 year-olds/per 10,000 population of 16-24 year-olds.

Local Authority Centrepoint's FOI Request: Number Accepted as Statutory Homeless in 2014 Official Government Data: Statutory Youth Homelessness for 2014
Reset All

4. What is the proportion of young people for the all-age category reported in the official data?

It is worthwhile to know how many young people received prevention and relief support, and how big the share is that such young people represent within the all-age category. For this, official data on all ages were taken and compared with data on the number of 16-24 year-olds that received prevention and relief, collected from Centrepoint’s FOI requests to local authorities.
For some of the local authorities - such as Eden, you can see that the proportion of young people increased compared to the official numbers of people for all-ages that were given support.

The stronger the shade of red a local authority is painted in the map, the more 16 to 24 year-old people as a proportion of the official all-age category have given prevention and relief. Prevention and relief means that people who come to the local authority for help are given only some support, but not being provided with a full homelessness duty. Official data can be found here

Local Authority 16 - 24 year-olds who received prevention and relief (according to FOI data, 2014) Official 'prevention and relief data for all ages - 2014
Reset All

5. Data Quality Needs to Improve! legend2

While there were a number of FOI responses that reported a reasonably low proportion of 16 - 24 year-olds who received prevention and relief support, there was also a number of FOI requests that showed a much higher, sometimes even more that the entire number for all-ages provided in the official data. This is clearly a case of insufficient data quality. The consistency of such data provided by local authorities needs to improve.

legend2
Categorisation (y: Number of successful FOI requests for local authorities that provided prevention and relief support to 16-24 year-olds, x: Number of 16 - 24 year-olds who received support via prevention and relief)
Local Authority 2014 - Proportion (share of young people) 2013 - Proportion 2012 - Proportion
Reset All