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Halton Borough Council
Also known as Halton
Unitary authority for Halton in Cheshire (Runcorn and Widnes), responsible for services including housing strategy and homelessness, social care, planning, environmental health, highways, waste and resettlement funding administration. The borough's former council housing stock transferred to Halton Housing in 2007.
Contact this organisation
Link health
These addresses are checked automatically. This is an automated technical check that the address responds. It is not confirmation from the authority that the contact route is correct or still in use. Symbols are shown alongside the text so the status never relies on colour alone.
- Official websiteLink reachableChecked 9 September 2026
- Official website
- https://www.halton.gov.uk/
- Contact status
- Unverified
- Mapping status
- Response Received
- Contact route last checked
- Check date not recorded
- Details last checked
- 13 August 2026
- Mapping information last updated
- 13 August 2026
Contact route and mapping progress are separate things. A contact route status describes how the address or form was checked; mapping progress describes how far this project's own request to the organisation has got. Always confirm the route on the organisation's official website before sending a request.
What you may be able to request
Some information categories are based on the authority's published responsibilities and may not yet have been confirmed through an FOI response.
Likely areas of responsibility — not yet confirmed by Public Audit.
- Spending and contracts
- Board or committee minutes
- Policies and internal guidance
- Staffing and organisational structure
- Complaints and performance figures
These are cautious suggestions based on what organisations of this kind usually do. They are not a statement that this organisation holds these records.
Council Information Map
Halton Borough Council — Housing, Information Ownership & Public Funding Map
The council that receives the request is not always the organisation that holds the information. Halton's response shows where the housing data actually sits — and how much government funding is coming in.
Key finding
Halton Borough Council Does Not Hold The Social Housing Stock
“The council does not hold housing stock, which was transferred as part of the stock transfer in 2007 to Halton Housing.”
The Council did not refuse this information on cost or exemption grounds. It stated that it is not the organisation holding the housing stock.
This is an accountability finding rather than a refusal: the public body you would naturally approach about local housing is not necessarily the organisation holding the housing information.
- 1Halton Borough Council
- 2Housing stock transferred in 2007
- 3Halton Housing
- 4Housing stock & allocations information
Housing allocation figures were not held by the Council
“The council does not hold housing stock, which was transferred as part of the stock transfer in 2007 to Halton Housing.”
FOI result dashboard
What the request produced
Council-owned housing allocations (asylum seekers, refugees, humanitarian protection)
The Council stated it does not hold housing stock following the 2007 stock transfer to Halton Housing, so it does not hold allocation figures for council-owned housing.
Households on the housing waiting list
The Council stated that Halton Housing manages the housing register and would hold the requested information.
“Halton Housing manage the housing register and would hold the requested information.”
Recording of nationality, country of birth, immigration status and refugee/asylum status
Questions about whether these fields are recorded on the housing register were directed to Halton Housing as the organisation managing the register.
Central-government funding for asylum, resettlement and Homes for Ukraine
The Council disclosed funding figures covering the Afghan Resettlement Scheme and Assistance Policy, asylum dispersal, resettlement schemes and Homes for Ukraine.
Funding amounts visible in the response total approximately £4,734,665 across the schemes and years shown.
Exemptions applied
Why some information wasn't provided
Who holds the data?
Who Actually Holds The Housing Register Data?
It is not enough to know what a council department is called. To make a request that works, you need to know who provides the service, who holds the data, who can search it, and who the public should ask.
Halton's response answers that for local housing information.
- 1
Halton Borough Council
The authority that received the FOI request.
- 2
Halton Housing
Holds the housing stock following the 2007 stock transfer.
- 3
Housing register
Managed by Halton Housing, per the Council's response.
- 4
Housing information
Waiting list, allocations and any recorded status fields.
Who provides the service?
Halton Housing holds the housing stock transferred from the Council in 2007.
Who holds the data?
Halton Housing, which the Council says manages the housing register.
Who can search it?
Not established by this response. Searchable fields and systems would need to be asked of Halton Housing directly.
Who should the public ask?
For housing-register information, Halton Housing. For central-government funding received by the authority, Halton Borough Council.
What was asked
- Total households on the housing waiting list
- Number recorded as asylum seekers
- Number recorded as refugees
- Number recorded as foreign nationals
- Whether nationality is recorded
- Whether country of birth is recorded
- Whether immigration status is recorded
- Whether refugee or asylum status is recorded
“Halton Housing manage the housing register and would hold the requested information.”
Related public funding
Central-Government Funding Disclosed
Unlike many authorities that point elsewhere, Halton supplied figures for immigration-related housing and resettlement funding.
| Scheme | Figures disclosed | Combined |
|---|---|---|
| Afghan Resettlement Scheme and Assistance Policy | £81,700 | £81,700 |
| Asylum Dispersal | £340,250 · £777,750 · £617,500 · £1,018,800 · £722,400 | £3,476,700 |
| Resettlement Schemes | £204,000 | £204,000 |
| Homes for Ukraine | £500,850 · £164,150 · £143,165 · £149,450 · £14,650 | £972,265 |
| Total visible in the response | Approximately | £4,734,665 |
Year-to-figure alignment is not confirmed
The formatting of the table in the response makes the precise year-to-figure alignment unclear for some schemes.
PublicAudit.uk therefore publishes the amounts as disclosed, and does not state which financial year each individual figure belongs to until that mapping is confirmed.
The amounts themselves are disclosed in the Council's response.
Next step
The FOI Isn't A Dead End — It Tells Us Where To Go Next
Someone looking for housing-register information might naturally send an FOI to Halton Borough Council. The response tells us Halton Housing manages the register and would hold the requested information.
That is useful intelligence for the next request.
Follow-up request to: Halton Housing
- Housing register numbers
- Nationality recording
- Immigration-status eligibility information
- Refugee-status recording
- Searchable fields
- Housing allocations
- Information ownership
- The systems used to manage the register
The next response is then connected back to Halton Borough Council: recorded information → organisation → system → responsibility → evidence.
Why this matters
Who actually holds the information?
You might reasonably expect the chain to be: Council → Housing Department → Housing Register.
In reality it can run through central-government funding, statutory responsibilities and commissioning, and then into a separate housing provider — with housing associations, contractors, charities, resettlement services and partnership organisations alongside it.
Each organisation may hold a different piece of the information, which makes a simple question — who holds the data? — surprisingly difficult to answer.
- 1Central Government
- 2Local Authority
- 3Housing Provider
- 4Housing Register
- 5Applicant Data
PublicAudit.uk is mapping that chain, council by council and response by response.
Structured record
Comparable fields for this council
Every council added to the Council Information Map is recorded using the same fields, so responses can be compared side by side.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Council | Halton Borough Council |
| Nation | England |
| FOI reference | FOI 17127 |
| Response date | 13 August 2026 |
| Council holds social housing stock | No — transferred to Halton Housing in 2007 |
| Housing register managed by | Halton Housing |
| Housing waiting list figures held by Council | No |
| Nationality / country of birth recording | Not established — Halton Housing would hold |
| Immigration or refugee status recording | Not established — Halton Housing would hold |
| Government funding figures disclosed | Yes |
| Afghan Resettlement Scheme and Assistance Policy | £81,700 |
| Asylum Dispersal (figures disclosed, combined) | £3,476,700 |
| Resettlement Schemes | £204,000 |
| Homes for Ukraine (figures disclosed, combined) | £972,265 |
| Total funding visible in response | Approximately £4,734,665 |
| Year-to-figure mapping confirmed | No — table formatting unclear |
| Section 12 applied | No |
| Next organisation to ask | Halton Housing |
| FOI route | Halton Borough Council FOI team (email response) |
| Last verified | 13 August 2026 |
Future national comparison
How does this council compare?
These counters update as more Council Information Map responses are published.
2
Councils surveyed
0
Central contractor maps
0
Information Asset Owner registers
1
Councils requiring departmental searches
1
Section 12 refusals
Sources
- Primary source
- Halton Borough Council
- Freedom of Information response
- FOI 17127 · requested 13 August 2026 · responded 13 August 2026
Statements marked Council response are the Council's own words or formal position. Statements marked PublicAudit.uk analysis are our interpretation and are never presented as Council statements.
Mapping progress
- 13 August 2026Mapping request sent
- 13 August 2026Response received
FOI 17127 (13 August 2026): the Council stated it does not hold housing stock, which transferred to Halton Housing in the 2007 stock transfer, and that Halton Housing manages the housing register and would hold the requested waiting-list and status-recording information. The Council did disclose central-government funding figures for the Afghan Resettlement Scheme and Assistance Policy (£81,700), asylum dispersal (£3,476,700 combined), resettlement schemes (£204,000) and Homes for Ukraine (£972,265 combined) — approximately £4,734,665 visible in total, with year-to-figure alignment unconfirmed because of the table formatting in the response.
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