Barry Batchelor/PA
Teachers have opened up about the ‘Oliver Twist reality’ of life on the breadline for children in Britain.
Half of those working in classrooms at state schools in the UK say they work at a school with pupils who are or have become homeless in the past year, according to research.
Charity Shelter’s polling also suggested teachers think the problem is only going to get worse next year.
The latest statistics, published by the Government in November, showed there were 138,930 children in temporary accommodation – a form of homelessness – in England at the end of June.
This is a record high since the measure was first recorded in 2004.
Shelter commissioned a YouGov survey of 1,017 state school teachers at primary and secondary schools in the UK last month on their experiences of the consequences of what the charity described as the “housing emergency” at their schools.
Across the UK 48 per cent of teachers said their school had children who are homeless or who had become homeless in previous 12 months.
For England alone this rose slightly to 49 per cent.
Almost two thirds (64 per cent) of state school teachers across the UK said they think the number of children who are homeless or living in bad housing will increase over the next calendar year at their school.
The vast majority of teachers working with children who have experienced homelessness in the past year said children’s housing issues are resulting in them coming to school tired, Shelter said.
The charity said children can find it difficult to sleep in temporary accommodation if it is overcrowded and they are sharing beds with siblings or parents.
Shelter’s chief executive, Polly Neate, said the “immense damage” being done to children’s education due to homelessness “is a national scandal”.
She added: “An alarming number of teachers are bearing witness to the horrors of homelessness and bad housing that families tell our services about every day.
“Appalling stories of children falling asleep in class because they don’t have their own bed, and parents filled with worry because they can’t even cook a hot meal in their grim hostel without a kitchen.”
Shelter has urged the public to support it winter appeal to help offer advice and support to families this Christmas and in the future. To donate or find out more visit Shelter.
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