Burnham to host rough sleeping summit ahead of Budget cash boost

Andy Burnham will call on business chiefs and charities to step up efforts to tackle rough sleeping with the Budget set to deliver a £432 million boost to help ensure homeless people are off the streets by Christmas. The Prime Minister will host a rough sleeping summit in Downing Street on Monday before Chancellor John Healey confirms the extra money in his statement to MPs on Wednesday. Mr Healey is also expected to set out how he will prevent people relying on the state pension from paying income tax.

The annual new state pension will be pushed up to around £13,036 next year, a 3.9% rise from April in line with earnings under the triple lock, taking the payment above the £12,570 personal tax allowance. Ministers have repeatedly promised they would prevent people whose only income is the state pension from being hit with income tax and The Times said Mr Healey will do that by announcing a rise in the tax-free allowance for low-income pensioners to £13,036, costing taxpayers £200 million a year by 2030.

The Treasury declined to comment on the details of the Times report. Ahead of the Budget, the Prime Minister will host a rough sleeping summit in Downing Street, bringing together private firms, charities and local leaders. He said “every part of society” needed to contribute to ending rough sleeping in England. Andy Burnham promised to tackle rough sleeping as his first commitment as Prime Minister (Chris Furlong/PA) PA Wire The most up-to-date, annual, national statistics estimated there were 4,793 people sleeping rough on a single night in autumn 2025 in England.

The funding at the Budget comes on top of £442 million committed earlier this year and will allow the rough sleeping programme to continue until the end of the current parliament in 2029. Mr Burnham said: “Rough sleeping isn’t a fact of life. It’s a thing governments either choose to accept or don’t. “Well, I don’t accept it. That’s why we’re doubling funding so that people aren’t just offered a safe route off the streets this winter but have that same support right through the rest of this parliament too.

“But we can’t do it alone. If we’re going to end rough sleeping, we need every part of society behind us on this.” Organisations attending the summit include the National Housing Federation, which will work with housing associations to identify at least 2,000 potential homes and bedspaces, while beauty firm L’Oreal Group will launch a social salon partnership with St Mungo’s and Haircuts4Homeless. Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said ‘we will not back down from making sure everyone has the offer of a route off the streets this Christmas’ (PA) PA Wire Virgin Media O2 will provide digital support to organisations working with the homeless while other attendees at the summit include the Salvation Army, Ikea, the Morrisons Foundation and Comic Relief.

Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said: “This is a big ambition – we know that. But we will not back down from making sure everyone has the offer of a route off the streets this Christmas.” Thierry Cheval, the boss of L’Oreal Group UK and Ireland, said: “Beauty plays an essential role in restoring dignity and a positive sense of self. “For people rebuilding their lives, this simple act of care provides a crucial boost in confidence and wellbeing as they re-engage with the world and take their next steps towards social integration.”

Mairi MacRae, acting chief executive at homelessness charity Shelter, said: “To keep people from returning to the streets and eradicate homelessness in all its forms, the Government must not waver from its promise to deliver a council housing revolution.” Mr Healey is expected to commit more than £1 billion to social and affordable housing in the Budget. Mr Burnham pledged as his “first instruction” on day one in No 10 in July to “finally end long-term, rough sleeping across the UK at the earliest opportunity”.

But he has faced criticism from the Conservatives over his record as mayor of Greater Manchester on the issue. Shadow housing secretary Katie Lam said: “Burnham is throwing another £432 million at a problem he failed to solve in Greater Manchester. “Under Labour, rough sleeping has hit record highs – yet their answer is always more taxpayers’ money and more empty promises.”