Help failing to keep pace with families facing ‘bed poverty’, says Barnado’s

Exclusive: Children's charity says applications for council support have quadrupled in England since 2018

Local support for families in crisis has failed to keep up with an explosion in bed poverty" in England caused by rising destitution and the cost of living, according to the children's charity Barnardo's.

It said applications to council-run schemes for replacement children's beds or bedding had quadrupled over the past five years - though a greater proportion are rejected, suggesting that the schemes struggle to meet demand.