Under the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 (HRA), everyone in England approaching their local authority for help because they are homeless or at risk of homelessness is entitled to an assessment. However, Centrepoint’s latest Youth Homelessness Databank found that a third of the young people who approached their local authority in England in 2023/24 were not assessed for eligibility.
Although some of these discrepancies may result from young people not meeting the eligibility threshold for assessment and support, evidence from Centrepoint’s Helpline indicates that many local authorities are employing practices that unfairly restrict access to homelessness services.
Between August 2024 - July 2025, Centrepoint’s Youth Homelessness Helpline supported 5,444 young people. The Centrepoint Helpline provides housing advice in England to young people aged 16-25 or their family and friends over email, webchat, WhatsApp and phone. Centrepoint Helpline Advisors listen to young people and provide them with advice and details of services they can access.
Unfortunately, around 1 in 10 calls that the Helpline receives involve gatekeeping by local authorities (9.5 per cent of all calls during August 2024 - July 2025). In this briefing, gatekeeping is defined as the denial of a homelessness assessment and/or support by local authorities to people who have a right to them.
Using data collected by the Centrepoint Helpline between August 2023 and July 2025, the following analysis explores rates of gatekeeping over time, by demographics and gatekeeping type.
Findings
Centrepoint’s Helpline recorded 449 instances of gatekeeping between August 2024 - July 2025 (a 2 per cent increase on 440 gatekeeping instances in August 2023 - July 2024), representing 9.5 per cent of relevant calls. This is equivalent to over 1 young person calling Centrepoint every day asking for help because their local authority has refused to provide them with homelessness support.
Gatekeeping was reported in 44 per cent of all local authorities mentioned by young people (132 local authorities, out of 299 in total).
Of the gatekeeping instances recorded, 40 per cent of callers were female, 33 per cent were male, 0.2 per cent were non binary and 27 per cent did not disclose their gender identity.
The most common cause of homelessness in the gatekeeping instances reported by young people were family breakdown (38 per cent), domestic abuse (16 per cent), and eviction (12 per cent), and a large proportion did not disclose (12 per cent). These findings are consistent with Centrepoint’s previous databank findings that showed these situations as the top causes for youth homelessness during 2023/24.
Recommendations
The Government should provide ringfenced funding to local authorities in England to ensure that all young people who report to homelessness support services receive an assessment and support if required.
We estimated that in 2023/34 local authorities needed at least an additional funding allocation of £400 million to cover the costs of meeting their HRA duties for young people.
The Government should develop a funding allocation, that is proportionate to local need, for local authorities to spend on homelessness services, encouraging local authorities to not divert this funding to other services.
The Government should work with young people and the youth homelessness sector to write and implement a youth-specific chapter in the Homelessness Code of Guidance.
This chapter should clarify the obligations of local authorities at the presentation, initial interview and assessment stages to ensure that all local authorities are aware of what is and is not acceptable practice. In doing this, the chapter should delineate a) the factors a local authority must consider and b) what constitutes a realistic burden of proof when the Homelessness Code of Guidance states that a local authority must only have “reason to believe” a person is homeless or at risk to get an assessment.
Ministry of Housing Community and Local Government should increase oversight and monitoring of local authority implementation and practices related to the implementation of the HRA when tackling youth homelessness.
Improved Government scrutiny over how local authorities provide homelessness assessments and services would improve adherence to best practices, maintain consistent standards, and address any gaps in service provision to tackle youth homelessness.