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NHF reaches agreement with ONS over empty homes data for census
The National Housing Federation (NHF) has reached an agreement with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) over reporting empty homes for the census.
Under Census rules, property owners are expected to provide information on empty homes – posing a significant administrative burden for social landlords with large housing stocks.
Census Day fell on 21 March, with the mass data-collection exercise only repeated once every 10 years.
In a post on its website, the NHF said the ONS has recognised “the resource implications for housing associations if they have to submit a separate return for every single empty property, particularly for those providers with a large number of them”.
Following talks with the ONS, the sector trade body has established a new system for housing associations to report data on all their empty homes in a single spreadsheet.
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“We can now confirm that you can instead submit census information in one simple spreadsheet, rather than multiple individual submissions, which the ONS will then compile to use directly in the 2021 census,” the NHF said.
“While the ONS would like to receive as much of the information as possible, they recognise that it may not all be available for every property.
“They would rather receive incomplete information than no information at all. So please don’t be put off if you can’t provide every single detail.”
Housing providers can still use the normal method of submitting separate data for each empty property if they prefer.
The ONS has requested that information on empty homes be submitted as soon as possible and no later than the end of April.
A copy of the spreadsheet devised by the NHF, to be submitted directly to the ONS, is available on its website.
Guidance on which properties should be included is available on the government website.
