Over 4,500 primary school classes worth of homeless children are spending Christmas in temporary accommodation, local authority leaders have warned.

The latest figures for England show there are a total of 120,710 dependent homeless children living in temporary accommodation, with 2,320 of these in bed and breakfasts.

The Local Government Association (LGA) said that ‘urgent work’ was needed to prevent disruption to children’s schooling, home lives and social lives.

The LGA said that councils should be given the right powers to incentivise developers to get building, including being able to charge full council tax for every unbuilt development from the point the original planning permission expires.

The association also highlighted the impact that the freezing of Local Housing Allowance rates and the increasing number of Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions is having on the number of people being made homelessness.

Cllr David Renard, LGA housing spokesperson, said: ‘Living in temporary accommodation can cause great disruption for children and families and is especially difficult for many families at Christmas time. As we face the reality of a national homelessness crisis, it is crucial we make addressing the chronic housing shortage a priority.

‘Suitable housing must be found for those already homeless, but we must also ensure everything possible is being done to combat the rising cost of living and prevent further people from becoming homeless.

‘The best way to improve housing security is to address the unaffordability of housing by giving councils the right powers and investment to build 100,000 new social rent homes a year, and to reform the Right to Buy scheme so that it is more sustainable.

‘Government should also use the upcoming finance settlement to urgently review Local Housing Allowance rates to ensure that at least a third of the market is affordable for people claiming housing related benefits.’