About this data
- People receiving support on the last day of each quarter, including dependants; not the number supported over the whole quarter.
- Dispersal accommodation: longer-term housing, usually flats and shared houses, for people whose application for support has been accepted. They can stay while they remain eligible.
- Hotels: hotels used as emergency (contingency) accommodation when there isn't enough dispersal or initial accommodation.
- Other accommodation combines three smaller groups: initial accommodation (short-term housing, usually hostels, while an application for support is assessed); other emergency accommodation, such as large sites at former military bases; and other accommodation.
- Cash support only: people who get money for living costs but not housing, for example because they stay with family or friends.
- Hotels are recorded separately from December 2022. Before then, people on temporary (Section 98) support, in hotels and initial accommodation, are counted together.
- Before March 2023, everyone on Section 4 support (for refused asylum seekers who can't leave the UK) is counted in dispersal accommodation, although some were in hotels.
This chart appears in Migration.