Information about rough sleepers

Cheshire East Council has committed to end rough sleeping across the borough within the our homelessness strategy. This commitment follows an acknowledgement that Rough Sleeping has increased over the last few years particularly in our main towns.

How we can help

While our Homelessness Team will investigate and attempt to assist anyone found to be sleeping rough we have no powers of removal and we must still act within current legislative boundaries

If you encounter someone who you believe is sleeping rough we would encourage you to let us know as soon as possible. This can be done in multiple ways and it is not necessary to approach the individual in question:

Call us on 0300 123 5017 (Option 1 or 2) and give us a brief description of where you saw the individual, what they were wearing and anything else which you feel might be useful to help us investigate and assist the individual.

How we can help

Our Rough Sleeping Team will investigate and attempt to assist anyone found to be sleeping rough.

Please report anyone you find to be sleeping rough on 0300 123 5017 (Option 1 or 2), please let us know the location and anything else you think we will find useful to help us assist them.

Contact Streetlink  which is run by a charity called Homeless Link. Once a report is made via this system it is automatically forwarded to us and we will go out and try and find the person. 

Practical support to rough sleepers

There are several resources which we can utilise to assist rough sleepers. We have a Rough Sleepers Outreach Team who will visit and support anyone sleeping outside who is reported in. 

No Further Night Out

Cheshire East Council commission emergency beds known as ‘No Further Night Out’ beds across the borough.

These beds are for people who are either rough sleeping or at risk of rough sleeping. They will be provided with ongoing help and support to find settled accommodation, and people will be linked in with other agencies they may need to support them. 

Housing Options advice and assistance

The Homelessness Team has an incredible amount of experience providing advice and assistance to anyone who is found to be rough sleeping. We take a pro-active approach to ensure that rough sleeping reports are investigated and should an individual be identified we would allocate an officer to work with them to get them off the street as quickly as possible.

No Second Night Out

Originally started as a national scheme Cheshire East Council decided to continue funding and operating a No Second Night Out (NSNO) project. 

Severe Weather Emergency Protocol

Cheshire East Council along with all other local authorities across England are required to provide accommodation to anyone found to be rough sleeping when the forecasted temperatures are due to be at or below zero degrees for three consecutive nights - Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP).

Cheshire East has been running a SWEP provision for several years but more recently we have adopted a more lenient approach to SWEP and instead of using the actual forecasted temperatures, we have opted to use the “real feel” temperature instead which has meant us being able to provide accommodation to individuals for greater periods of time and working with those individuals to prevent them having to go back onto to streets.

Contact us

Page last reviewed: 24 December 2021