What's new?

From 1 April 2007 smoking was outlawed in all indoor public places in Wales. England will follow suit on 1 July. A similar ban came into force in Scotland, in March 2006. Many hostels and day centres have already made the move to non-smoking, without problems.

• Camden PCT have produced a toolkit for homelessness service providers and hostels in particular with guidance on implementing the ban, adhering to legislation and working within the new law. You can download it here, and services in Camden, London, can also sign up for the launch of the toolkit, on June 12.

• Information on the legislation, exemptions and help giving up is available from Smokefree England.

• Download PDF guidance from Smokefree England on the forthcoming ban and conforming to the legislation.

• Broadway 's Beyond a helpline project have issued a legal changes update on the smoking legislation

The legislation will mean that smoking rooms and lounges that are public areas will have to be made non-smoking. Smoking will only be permitted in outside areas (that are not substantially covered) and in private homes. This definition is important, as it means that private rooms in hostels are not covered by the ban.

Smoke free feedback

Some feedback from hostels and day centres in Scotland and Northern Ireland has shown that implementing the smoke-free legislation is generally straightforward. Enforcing a ban in staff and communal areas of hostels has not been a problem but a smoking ban in bedrooms was felt by some to be unreasonable and unenforceable. Allowing smoking in rooms has, in some cases, increased isolation, particularly among older people with alcohol problems. Difficulties in day centres have arisen when enforcing the ban on people with alcohol problems whom agencies are trying to engage in services.

Policy issues arising from the ban

Where areas within homelessness services are not covered by the ban, agencies will need to consider whether to allow and/or facilitate smoking. This will involve balancing ethical and health promotion issues with those of practicality and individual freedom.

It may be felt that hostel residents should be allowed to smoke in their private room as they will no longer be allowed to smoke anywhere else indoors. For some residents, particularly those who are older, lonelier, and may have drink/substance issues, this may mean they spend more time in their rooms alone. To counter this, services may wish to consider rules about having friends and visitors in private rooms, and/or an outside space where people can smoke and socialise. Commercial company No Butts, manufacturers of outside shelters and ashtray stands etc will give a 10% discount to organizations quoting Homeless Link when placing an order.

Services that are unable to provide an outside area like a garden or courtyard may find that clients/ residents congregate outside to smoke. Services should consider whether this might risk impacting negatively on neighbours, and what you can be done to plan for this. Other concerns raised have been from substance use centres and dry/damp centres where people going outside to have a cigarette may also have a drink or some drugs and return under the influence, or possibly not return at all.

Case studies

• The Whitechapel Centre and Broadway West London day centre have successfully made the change to non-smoking.

Amanda Croome's experience at the Booth Centre was also positive. She says:

"The Booth Centre became non smoking in November 2005 in response to demands from service users at a meeting. The staff were reluctant but we agreed to a three month trial. We had almost no complaints and no problems in enforcing the ban. We occasionally have to tell people who haven't been to the centre for a long time that we are now no smoking, they apologise and go outside. We have provided an ashtray outside. We have smoking breaks in the activity sessions. Now both staff and people using the centre (smokers and non-smokers) all say how much nicer the centre is."