Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) is an initiative to minimise harm or death to anyone who might be sleeping rough in severe weather.

SWEP is a locally agreed procedure and offer, followed to minimise harm or death to anyone who might be sleeping rough in severe weather, through the provision of emergency accommodation.

There is no legal requirement for Local Authorities to provide shelter for everyone during severe weather.  However, it is widely accepted that there is a humanitarian obligation to provide SWEP and prevent death.

The Local Authority commissions SWEP and is responsible for opening it.

Homeless Link guidance:
https://homeless.org.uk/knowledge-hub/guidance-on-cold-weather-provision-swep-and-heatwaves/

To help report rough sleepers so they can receive assistance, StreetLink is a website service for England and Wales, which enables members of the public to send an alert to local outreach teams when they see someone sleeping rough. 

The StreetLink service is delivered by Home Connections, who have produced educational campaign short videos on how to make a good quality alert to help outreach teams to find the person promptly, which is especially important over the winter period. 

The videos explain how StreetLink works, how best to describe someone sleeping rough and how best to describe the location of someone sleeping rough.