'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.