How many breaches of the Homeless Persons (Unsuitable Accommodation) (Scotland) Order 2014 have been recorded in each year since its commen…

The following table shows a breakdown of breaches of the Unsuitable Accommodation Order from 2017-18 to 2020-21 by local authority. Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 5 for disclosure purposes.
Data on temporary accommodation taken from the HL3 data collection is only available for all local authorities from 2017-18. Although some local authorities have provided data prior to this, there is not enough to provide a meaningful national picture and this data has not been subject to the rigorous quality assurance procedures required to finalise the data to official statistics standards.
Important:
Over the 2020-21 reporting period i) there was a significant change to legislation and ii) temporary exceptions were put in place at very short notice in response to COVID-19, both of which have had considerable impacts on the data. The urgency of having to adapt to the revised legislation without any specific guidance means that local authorities have reported inconsistencies in the information captured regarding breaches which is likely to affect comparability. For these reasons, these figures should be treated with caution.
Changes in legislation:
Prior to 5 May 2020, a breach was encountered when a household with a pregnant woman and/or child is in unsuitable temporary accommodation for more than 7 days. From 5 May 2020, this was extended to all households. Therefore, the total number of breaches across the year 2020/21 will include those based on both old and new legislation.
Covid-19 exceptions:
Temporary exceptions were put in place to allow local authorities to provide households with accommodation in response to COVID-19.
The legislation noted that a placement was not considered unsuitable if:a person in the household has symptoms of coronavirus and the household requires to isolate; orthe accommodation is required to provide temporary accommodation to ensure that a distance of 2 metres can be maintained between a member of the household and a person who is not a member of the household in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus; orthe local authority is unable to place the household in suitable accommodation as a result of the impacts of coronavirus on temporary accommodation supply in the area, provided that where a household includes a child or a pregnant woman the household is not placed in unsuitable accommodation for more than 7 days.
(To note: the third of these only came into effect on 30th September 2020, halfway through the 2020-21 reporting period.)
A household placed in unsuitable accommodation for longer than 7 days where an exception did not apply must still be recorded as a breach.
Number of breaches of the Unsuitable Accommodation Order, by local authority: 2017-18 – 2021-2020
2017-18
2018-19
2019-20
2020-21
Scotland
400
640
515
490
Aberdeen City
0
0
0
0
Aberdeenshire
0
0
0
0
Angus
0
0
0
0
Argyll & Bute
0
0
0
0
Clackmannanshire
0
0
0
0
Dumfries & Galloway
0
0
0
0
Dundee City
0
0
0
15
East Ayrshire
0
0
0
0
East Dunbartonshire
20
5
0
0
East Lothian
0
0
0
120
East Renfrewshire
0
0
0
0
Edinburgh
275
465
370
15
Eilean Siar
0
0
0
0
Falkirk
0
0
0
0
Fife
0
0
0
130
Glasgow City
25
25
90
65
Highland
5
25
0
10
Inverclyde
0
0
5
5
Midlothian
5
5
5
0
Moray
0
0
0
0
North Ayrshire
0
0
0
0
North Lanarkshire
0
0
0
0
Orkney
0
0
0
0
Perth & Kinross
0
0
0
0
Renfrewshire
0
0
0
100
Scottish Borders
0
0
0
0
Shetland
0
0
0
0
South Ayrshire
0
0
0
0
South Lanarkshire
0
0
0
0
Stirling
0
15
0
0
West Dunbartonshire
0
0
0
0
West Lothian
65
85
25
10
Source: HL3 data collection as at 29-06-2021
Information on breaches of the unsuitable accommodation order is published in the Homelessness in Scotland official statistics publications. Data for 2018-19 to 2020-21 can be found in Table 43 of the Main Tables of the most recent publication at the following link: