Waiting for the bailiffs but nowhere to go: Sharp rise in disabled people facing homelessness
Chrystal Hendry finished her psychology degree in 2021 and was excited to move to the next phase of her life – working towards becoming a counsellor – when she first became homeless.
Chrystal, 30, has spinal muscular atrophy and uses a wheelchair. She needs round-the-clock care, as well as home adaptations, such as a bed hoist and wet room, to live comfortably.
Several months after being evicted in 2021, and following a “really awful” period in inappropriate housing, she managed to find somewhere to rent in a different town, where she now lives.
It has never been the ideal home – the temporary ramps are a struggle. But it was better than the alternatives suggested by her council, including moving her live-in care team and equipment into one bedroom in an elderly dementia care home.
Four years on, she’s being evicted again.
Chrystal is one of the 70,000 households with a physical disability in England now facing homelessness.
Her landlord wants to redevelop the home she lives in and has issued a ‘no fault’ eviction notice, which has progressed to a court repossession order.
Now, she’s waiting for the bailiffs to arrive.
“It just never ended, it’s still not ended four years later. I still can’t even think about building a career or giving back to anybody because I’m so consumed with it,” Chrystal told Sky News.
“At this moment in time, I have no idea where I’m going to go,” she said.
“For anybody a bailiff knocking on your door is scary, but when you’ve got fundamental pieces of equipment that you cannot live without it’s even scarier.”
Chrystal’s experience is not unique.
Among households who approached their local council for homelessness assistance in the latest year, one in five had physical ill health and disability support needs.
It’s a growing issue – there were nearly 70,000 such households in 2024/25, up from around 40,000 four years earlier, according to Sky News analysis of government data.
This represents a 72% increase, more than three times the 20% rise in the overall number of households seeking homelessness support.
The number of homeless or at-risk households with a physical disability support need increased more than any other demographic over the period.
They now represent 21% of households, up from 13% of households in 2020/21.
Councils ‘not taking it seriously’
Sky News and housing campaigner Kwajo Tweneboa sent Freedom of Information requests to English councils asking how many people were waiting for accessible social housing, and how long they wait on average.
Their responses reveal a troubling lack of understanding of accessible housing needs in their areas.
Two in three couldn’t say how many people with disabilities were waiting, while four in five weren’t able to estimate how long they could expect to wait.
Kensington and Chelsea Council disclosed one of the longest waits among those who did respond.
It said people waited more than six and a half years for accessible social housing, a year and three months longer than for one-bedroom properties.
But we don’t have the full picture, as most simply couldn’t provide figures.
“The fact most didn’t provide data on this issue shows the lack of seriousness shown towards those with disabilities and their needs,” Mr Tweneboa said.
“All it takes is for any of us to have an accident and we may need those services.
“We also have an ageing population; no doubt more and more people are going to have additional needs,” he added.
Kwajo Tweneboa says councils’ poor response shows a ‘lack of seriousness’
There are five million more people in the UK with a disability than there were a decade ago, according to the government’s Family Resources Survey.
Mobility issues are most common, affecting just under half of those with a disability.
Home builders bypassing ‘very simple things’
“We currently do not have enough accessible homes here in England,” Millie Brown, deputy director for the homes team at the Centre for Ageing Better, told Sky News.
“We know that 20% of people are currently living with a disability, but only 13% of homes across England are built to accessibility standards which support them to live healthy and independent lives.
“Things such as step-free access to the home, a toilet on the ground level, doors that are wide enough to fit wheelchairs, for example.
“Very simple things that make it so disabled and older people can live in their homes independently.”
These criteria, alongside a ‘flush threshold’ – where the floor on either side of doorways are level – are outlined as the four basic criteria for accessibility, which 13% of homes in England meet as of the latest data for 2022.
It’s not always possible to retrofit existing homes to these standards, but campaigners argue they should be mandatory for new-build properties.
Plans under the previous government to raise accessibility standards for new homes never materialised and there has been a “lack of action from both the previous government and the current government”, said Ms Brown.
Millie Brown from the Centre for Ageing Better says we don’t have enough accessible housing for those who need it
‘Couldn’t even get through the door’
Many councils told us they operate a “choice-based letting system” – meaning people waiting for social housing can bid for properties that suit their needs – but that they don’t actively monitor applicants’ accessibility requirements.
Constantly bidding for properties can be an exhausting process, especially for someone like Chrystal.
After her first eviction, when she was on North Hertfordshire’s housing register, she said she bid for over 100 properties but only secured viewings at six.
“None of them were accessible in any shape or form,” she said.
“In five of them I couldn’t get through the front door. Only one of the properties was adapted, but they told me my needs weren’t enough, so I was turned down.”
Only one property Chrystal viewed was adapted – but the council turned her down
Now, she doesn’t even have the luxury of joining a housing register.
Because she moved to a different local authority in 2022 in search of housing, she is now ineligible for support in either her old area, where she hasn’t lived recently enough, or her new one, where she hasn’t lived for long enough.
‘Affordability problems compounded’
“The picture across the board is that it’s a struggle for everyone at the moment to find a suitable rented home,” Deborah Garvie, policy manager at Shelter, told Sky News.
She said the biggest difficulty is affordability, especially for those relying on housing benefit, which has been frozen and not kept up with inflation.
People with disabilities, or those caring for them, may be particularly affected as they are less likely to be working full time.
“There’s that big affordability problem which is likely to be compounded for people who either have disabilities themselves or have a household member with disabilities,” added Ms Garvie.
“And then on top of that you have the physical access problems as well.”
A parliamentary inquiry into disabled people in the housing sector ended earlier this year and the government has said it intends to set out policies on the accessibility of new homes soon.
A Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “Cases like Chrystal’s are unacceptable and is why we are taking urgent and decisive action to ban section 21 evictions, build 1.5 million new homes and give people housing security.
“Through our Plan for Change, we will build more accessible housing so everyone has a home that meets their needs, alongside delivering the biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation backed by £39bn investment.”
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Broxbourne Council, which is responsible for housing in Chrystal’s area, responded: “At present, there are more than 1,600 households on the Housing Register.
“Ms Hendry has been provided with a personalised plan to support her to resolve her housing situation which acknowledges that specialist accommodation is required.
“It sets out what the council is doing to support Ms Hendry and also details other housing options that she can pursue.”
Chrystal acknowledges the council has given her a plan, but argues it doesn’t provide any real solutions.
“I’ve been told numerous times that they have no housing in the area,” she said.
“They have told me to look for places to rent, but finding private rentals that I can live in is like finding a needle in a haystack – and even if I do, housing benefit won’t cover it.
“I’m lucky enough that I can advocate for myself, but there are loads of people in my position that can’t do that.
“Trying to wade my way through these broken systems is upsetting and frustrating. I get angry because it seems like nobody wants to fix the problem.”
Production and additional reporting by Emily Jennings, social affairs producer.
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
Three people have died following a helicopter crash during a flying lesson on the Isle of Wight.
A fourth person is in hospital in a serious condition following the incident, according to Hampshire Police.
Officers were called to the scene of a “helicopter that had come down” off Shanklin Road near Ventnor at 9.24am on Monday, the force said.
A spokesman for the aircraft’s owner Northumbria Helicopters said G-OCLV – which is listed as a Robinson R44 II helicopter – was involved in the accident during a flying lesson.
Fire and rescue vehicles at the scene near Ventnor. Pic: Stu Southwell
Aerial view of the crash site
Helicopter ‘spiralled out of sight’ – live updates
Four people, including the pilot, were on board the aircraft, which departed nearby Sandown Airport at 9am, the company also said in a statement.
A critical care team, including a doctor and specialist paramedic, was also sent to the crash site, Hants and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance added, alongside fire engines and other emergency vehicles.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch confirmed it was alerted to the incident and is sending a team to investigate. A major incident was declared but has since been stood down.
A spokesperson for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance said in a statement: “We have treated and airlifted one patient to the Major Trauma Centre, University Hospital Southampton. Our thoughts are with them, and everyone involved in today’s incident.”
Darren Toogood, editor and publisher at the Island Echo, told Sky News presenter Kamali Melbourne the helicopter crashed on a “significantly busy, high-speed road” between the village of Godshill and the seaside town of Shanklin.
“It was on one of the first flights of the day,” he said.
“It’s a bank holiday weekend in August on the Isle of Wight. It’s an incredibly busy area. Lots of tourists down at the moment. It appears no vehicles were involved, which is incredible, given how busy this road would have been this morning.”
A witness, Leigh Goldsmith, told the Isle of Wight County Press she saw the helicopter “spiralling” before crashing into a hedge as she drove along the road.
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Police have closed Shanklin Road, blocking it off with several emergency vehicles, and are warning people to avoid the area.
Northumbria Helicopters said it is “giving its full cooperation to the authorities investigating this incident”.
UK
Ten organisations write urgent letter to home secretary over violence against women and girls strategy
Ten child protection organisations have written an urgent letter to the home secretary expressing concern about the omission of child sexual abuse from the government’s violence against women and girls strategy, following a Sky News report.
Groups including the NSPCC, Barnardo’s and The Internet Watch Foundation wrote to Yvette Cooper to say that violence against women and girls (VAWG) and child sexual abuse are “inherently and deeply connected”, suggesting any “serious strategy” to address VAWG needs to focus on child sexual abuse and exploitation.
The letter comes after Sky News revealed an internal Home Office document, titled Our draft definition of VAWG, which said that child sexual abuse and exploitation is not “explicitly within the scope” of their strategy, due to be published in September.
Poppy Eyre when she was four years old
Responding to Sky News’ original report, Poppy Eyre, who was sexually abused and raped by her grandfather when she was four, said: “VAWG is – violence against women and girls. If you take child sexual abuse out of it, where are the girls?”
The Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse, which is funded by the Home Office and a signatory to the letter, estimates 500,000 children in England and Wales are sexually abused every year.
The NSPCC “welcome” the government’s pledge to halve VAWG in a decade, but is “worried that if they are going to fulfil this commitment, the strategy absolutely has to include clear deliverable objectives to combat child sexual abuse and exploitation too”, the head of policy, Anna Edmundson, told Sky News.
Poppy is a survivor of child sexual abuse
She warned the government “will miss a golden opportunity” and the needs of thousands of girls will be “overlooked” if child sexual abuse and exploitation is not “at the heart of its flagship strategy”.
The government insists the VAWG programme will include action to tackle child sexual abuse, but says it also wants to create a distinctive plan to “ensure those crimes get the specialist response they demand”.
“My message to the government is that if you’re going to make child sexual abuse a separate thing, we need it now,” Poppy told Sky News.
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Rape Crisis, which is one of the largest organisations providing support to women in England and Wales, shares these concerns.
It wants plans to tackle child sexual abuse to be part of the strategy, and not to sit outside it.
The internal Home Office document detailing its violence against women and girls strategy
“If a violence against women and girls strategy doesn’t include sexual violence towards girls, then it runs the risk of being a strategy for addressing some violence towards some females, but not all,” chief executive Ciara Bergman said.
A Home Office spokesperson said the government is “working tirelessly to tackle the appalling crimes of violence against women and girls and child sexual exploitation and abuse, as part of our Safer Streets mission”.
“We are already investing in new programmes and introducing landmark laws to overhaul the policing and criminal justice response to these crimes, as well as acting on the recommendations of Baroness Casey’s review into group-based Child Sexual Exploitation, and the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse,” they added.
Hundreds of shoplifting cases have gone unsolved every day, with the number of unsolved incidents rising by more than 40,000 over the past year.
New figures show that 289,464 cases of shoplifting were shut by police without a suspect in England and Wales in the year to March 2025, according to House of Commons library analysis.
Of all shoplifting cases, more than half (55%) were closed without a suspect identified, while fewer than one in five (18%) led to someone being charged.
Politics latest: Ministers announce new measures to clear asylum backlog
The data shows the number of cases closed without a suspect has also risen significantly on the previous 12 months, with 245,337 cases shut by police forces without a suspect being identified in 2023-24, a rise of more than 40,000.
The analysis, produced for the Liberal Democrats, suggests that on average, 793 shoplifting offences went unsolved every day.
Senior Conservative politicians have told Sky News that the figures “explain why Britain feels lawless”, and are urging ministers to scrap plans to largely end the use of short prison sentences, in favour of people serving time in the community.
What else does the data show?
The data covered all police forces in England and Wales, except for Humberside, but also included the British Transport Police.
It revealed the Metropolitan Police had the worst record, with 76.9% of its 93,705 shoplifting cases being closed with nobody identified as a suspect. Just 5.9% of shoplifting incidents recorded in the capital and the wider region resulted in a charge.
While the data has shown the number of unsolved cases is on the rise, it also revealed that the total number of shoplifting offences has increased dramatically, too.
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Do we send too many people to prison?
In 2023-24, 444,022 cases of shoplifting were recorded. But in 2024-25, this rose to 530,643, a record high since the practice of recording the data nationally began in 2002-03.
Overall, 2,071,156 offences of all types went unsolved in the 2024-25 year. This means, on average each day, 5,674 crimes were committed that went on to be closed without a suspect. Only 7.3% of all crimes recorded resulted in somebody being charged or summoned.
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Greggs shoplifter caught
The Lib Dems have repeated their calls for police and crime commissioners – elected politicians who have authority over each police force – to be scrapped. They believe the money spent on these would be better invested in frontline policing, and that police boards, made up of local councillors and other individuals, could replace them.
Lisa Smart, the party’s home affairs spokesperson, said that the data reveals an “absolute scandal” because it shows that “thousands of innocent victims are being left without the justice they deserve” every day.
She added: “The previous Conservative government left behind a legacy of failure, but the Labour government has not been quick enough to address the unsolved crime epidemic – particularly as shoplifting spirals out of control.”
Home affairs spokesperson Lisa Smart, with party leader, Sir Ed Davey. Pic: PA
Tories: There should be a ‘zero tolerance approach’ to shoplifting
Meanwhile, the shadow home secretary pointed out that shoplifting has risen by 20% under Labour, and that ministers show “no signs of gripping it”.
Chris Philp told Sky News: “The vast majority of criminals aren’t even caught – and Labour are now proposing to abolish prison sentences of under a year, so even the few that get caught won’t suffer any real punishment.”
He has called for a “zero tolerance approach” and the greater use of technology, such as facial recognition technology, so that “Labour’s shoplifting epidemic can be stopped”.
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Earlier this month, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced a significant expansion of the use of facial recognition tech by police forces in England and Wales, with 10 new vans being rolled out – though the move was criticised by civil liberties groups.
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Jenrick slams justice system shake-up
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said the “damning stats explain why Britain feels lawless”.
He told Sky News: “Starmer’s plan to scrap prison sentences for shoplifters will only make this worse. We need the authorities to go after these criminals and lock them up for much longer to keep the public safe.”
The government has defended the proposals to largely end the use of shorter sentences, as recommended by the independent sentencing review, carried out earlier this year by former Conservative justice secretary David Gauke.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “Without further action, we will run out of prison places in months, courts would halt trials and the police [would] cancel arrests. That is why we are overhauling sentencing to make sure we always have the prison places needed to keep the country safe.”
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