Homeless deaths WILL be officially counted for the first time, it has been announced, less than two months after the Manchester Evening News exposed how they are being edited out of history.

No firm data currently exists on how many people die on Britain’s streets each year, a scandal that formed the subject of our investigation ‘The Deaths They Don’t Count’ in August.

We told how hard it actually is to trace how many people have lost their lives while sleeping rough or living in temporary accommodation in Manchester.

The story captured national attention and we then passed our findings to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, who in turn came up with a national estimate of rough sleeper deaths - 440 in last year alone , a number that is still likely to be an underestimate.

Now, for the first time, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has confirmed it will start counting homeless deaths on a trial basis.

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

ONS deputy director for health analysis and life events, Ben Humberstone, said the department had looked at the crowdsourced database set up by the BIJ, before comparing it to its own figures collected from death registrations.

“This is to find out whether it would be possible to produce accurate estimates of the deaths of homeless people, their characteristics and what they have died of,” he said.

“Information gathered by outside organisations like these is not used for our official statistics, but it helps us develop the most accurate method of identifying all the deaths that should be counted.

“Although this is a new area of data collection, we have a responsibility to ensure it meets the same high standards of quality, accuracy, confidentiality and security as the rest of our work.”

The announcement marks a huge breakthrough ahead of Wednesday's World Homeless Day and marks a victory for campaigners, including the Manchester Evening News.

We described just how hard it actually is to find out how many people have died and why, with no public body responsible for recording them and nothing uniformly marked on death registrations to say that the person was destitute.

The story also told of the humans behind the limited numbers we were able to collect with the help of charities, from a young man who overdosed in a shopping centre toilet, to the pensioner rescued from a rodent-infested, unlocked flat, before dying a few weeks later.

It received national exposure and prompted the BBC's World at One to run its own coverage of the same issue.

Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, said the ONS’s announcement showed the impact the story had had.

He said: “New data showing more than 440 homeless people died on the streets or in temporary accommodation in the UK in the past year demonstrates that this is nothing short of a humanitarian crisis.

“It was the intelligent and incisive journalism of the Manchester Evening News back in the summer that first shone a light on this issue. Strong, independent local reporting is the lifeblood of news in this country, and on this story the M.E.N. changed the national conversation.

“Nobody should ever die on our streets; that’s why we’ve committed in recent weeks to a new campaign, A Bed Every Night.

"Funds raised through the Mayor’s Homelessness Fund will, from November to March this year, help provide accommodation for every person sleeping rough who wants and needs it. Visit bedeverynight.co.uk for more information.

“Whatever our challenges as a country, we are rich enough to put a roof over every head every night of the week. I hope that, in Greater Manchester at least, this will soon become the norm.”

Openshaw-based homeless charity Justlife, who worked with the M.E.N. both on 'The Deaths They Don't Count' and on exposing slum standards in temporary homeless accommodation, said the coverage had had a real effect.

"The M.E.N.'s investigation has really made a difference for us and has had such an impact," said Christa Mciver, strategic lead for research and policy at the charity.

"It has definitely played a part in pushing this issue up the agenda nationally. There are so many people we've spoken to who have read it - it's been amazing for us to be able to say that we were involved in it."

World Homeless Day also marks the announcement of a new government scheme aimed at getting people on the brink of losing their accommodation into a private tenancy.

From Wednesday a new £20m fund will be open to bids from councils across the country, who will be able to put forward their own proposals for how that money could be used locally.

At the same time ministers are placing a statutory responsibility on the NHS, Job Centres and prisons to flag anyone at risk of homelessness to the local council.

Prisoners account for many rough sleepers in Manchester, with the number of inmates leaving to destitution last year thought to be as many as 400. Often they leave prison with no home to go to and little the way of support.

Communities secretary James Brokenshire said: “It is vital we give people facing homelessness a route out of it and a chance to rebuild their lives. The private rented sector has an important role in this.

“This £20 million fund will allow councils to put in place vital new schemes so that those at risk will have the support to secure their own tenancy.

“It is just one part of the wide-ranging work we are doing to help tackle all forms of homelessness, including our Rough Sleeping Strategy as we ensure more homes are made available for those in need.”