Authority Page · Emergency Relocation
Emergency relocation accommodation for councils.
When a safety notice, evacuation or structural finding forces residents out, the relocation is a project — and the accommodation is its critical path.
Jigsaw Conferences delivers emergency relocation accommodation for local authorities running urgent decant projects: same-day hotel stabilisation for displaced households, suitability-matched self-contained accommodation for the works period, welfare and extension management, and one auditable case file per household from the first call to the return.
- Local authorities
- Housing & building safety teams
- Emergency planning teams
- ALMOs
When councils run emergency relocation projects
Safety notices and prohibition orders
A building can no longer be occupied — residents must be relocated while remediation is scoped and delivered.
Building evacuations
Structural movement, fire-safety findings, gas or utility failures forcing an immediate evacuation of a block.
Incident-driven displacement
Fire, flood or storm damage affecting multiple council-owned or managed properties at once.
Decant projects at speed
A planned works programme that suddenly cannot wait — the schedule collapses from months to days.
A relocation project, not a stack of bookings
The difference between a managed emergency relocation and a scramble is structure. A managed project has a household list with needs captured, placements matched to those needs, a named contact for residents, costs visible weekly, and an evidence trail that survives scrutiny. A scramble has whatever rooms were available at midnight and a reconciliation problem three months later.
This page covers project-based relocation. Councils discharging statutory homelessness duties — interim and temporary accommodation under Part VII — should start with our council emergency accommodation sector page, which covers that duty-driven service.
How an emergency relocation runs
First call
Trigger event, household count, known accessibility and safeguarding needs, expected duration if known. Placement starts on partial information — the file catches up.
Stabilise
Hotel placements for the first nights, prioritising accessible and high-need households.
Re-plan
Once the works timeline firms up, households move to suitability-matched self-contained accommodation.
Manage
Welfare check-ins, extension management, re-placements where needed — all on the same case file.
Return
Returns coordinated to works completion, with sign-off and a complete auditable record per household.
Delivered relocation evidence
Jigsaw has delivered emergency group decants, large-family relocations and personal-safety relocations for public-sector and insurance clients. Published example:
Historical delivered outcomes from specific cases — not universal service guarantees or published SLA commitments.
Related pages
Public sector decant accommodation
The full decant programme service.
Council emergency accommodation
Statutory homelessness and incident placements.
Building evacuation accommodation
The evacuation-specific guide.
Decant contingency planning
Prepare the plan before the notice lands.
Procuring emergency relocation
Direct award, frameworks and evaluation.
Emergency Accommodation hub
How UK emergency accommodation works.
Frequently asked questions
What is an emergency relocation decant project?
It is the urgent, organised relocation of residents from a building or estate that can no longer be safely occupied — usually triggered by a safety notice, structural finding or evacuation. Unlike a single homelessness placement, it is a project: multiple households, one trigger event, one works programme, one accountable record.
How quickly can households be placed?
Hotels are the fastest stabilisation route for the first nights, with a re-plan into self-contained accommodation once the works timeline is understood. Speed depends on household numbers, location and needs — which is why the first call captures the household list and accessibility register.
Is this the same as statutory homelessness accommodation?
No. Statutory homelessness placements discharge duties under Housing Act 1996 Part VII and run through our council emergency accommodation service. Emergency relocation projects are building-driven: the households are being moved because of the building, not because of a homelessness application.
Who holds the audit trail?
Every household sits on one case file from the first call — placement decisions, suitability evidence, costs, welfare contacts and return dates — so the council can evidence its decisions to members, auditors and residents.
Talk to the team that runs the accommodation side, so your team can run the programme.
Last reviewed: August 2026 · Jigsaw Conferences Ltd