Dozens of children have been left homeless and living in temporary accommodation in Worcester, figures reveal.

The housing charity Shelter estimates a child was made homeless every eight minutes across Britain last year, with many staying in cold and cramped spaces and uprooted from friends.

Analysis of Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government data by the charity shows that 51 children were homeless and living in temporary accommodation in Worcester at the end of March.

A Worcester City Council spokesman said: “Families with children become homeless for a wide variety of reasons, often to do with changes in their circumstances or problems with their accommodation."

“When families who are at risk of homelessness approach us, our specialist housing service works with them to try to find ways for them to remain in their current accommodation. If that is not possible, our statutory duty to house any families with dependent children comes into play – and we have recently taken on the management of four family houses to support this important work. We aim for no family to be in bed and breakfast accommodation for more than six weeks.”

Across the West Midlands, the figure stood at 7,400 – the charity’s analysis suggests that around 4,900 young people across the region became homeless during 2018-19, equivalent to 14 every day.

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Across Britain, 183 children per day became homeless – enough to fill more than two double-decker buses, and almost 67,000 over the year.

If the rate remains the same this month, around 4,600 more children would lose their home between the start of December and Christmas Day.

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said the “scandalous” figure is a reminder that political promises about tackling homelessness must be turned into real action.

“Day in, day out we see the devastating impact the housing emergency is having on children across the country.”