Dozens of homeless children in Torridge were forced to live in temporary accommodation in the first three months of this year, new figure show.

It comes as the total across England hit a record high.

Shelter warned thousands of children were facing a "long summer stuck in damaging and insecure" accommodation and urged the Government to dramatically increase its social home building plans.

New figures released by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, show there were 71 children living in temporary accommodation – a form of homelessness – in Torridge at the end of March.

This was a fall from the 96 a year earlier.

Across England, the number of children in temporary accommodation stood at 169,050 in March, up from 151,630 a year earlier, and the highest since records began in 1998.

Mairi MacRae, director of campaigns and policy at Shelter, said the figures were the "devastating result of a severe shortage of social rent homes and inadequate levels of housing benefit that continue to trap families in homelessness".

She added: "As an immediate relief for struggling families, the Government must unfreeze local housing allowance in the Autumn Budget, so it covers at least the bottom third of local rents.

"But there’s only one way to ensure everyone has access to a safe and secure home in the long run, and that’s social rent homes."

She called on the Government to deliver the new social rent homes it has already promised, and ramp up construction to 90,000 a year for ten years.

There were also 60 households assessed by Torridge District Council as being threatened with homelessness and owed a prevention duty.

This was more than the 52 a year earlier.

Of those households, 15 were headed by a single parent, and six were couples with dependent children.

Nationally, 37,610 households were assessed as being threatened with homelessness and owed a prevention duty, down 4.5% from the same quarter last year.

John Glenton, executive director at the charity Riverside, which provides accommodation for people affected by homelessness, said the numbers were "greatly concerning", but there were opportunities to better use existing social housing stock.

"It is particularly disappointing to see the number of additional homeless children living in temporary accommodation continuing to increase so rapidly," he said.

"However, the number of homeless households moved out of temporary accommodation into social housing has increased by almost an eighth over the past 12 months compared to the previous year.

"We know moving families out of temporary accommodation and into a social rent home works."

Minister for homelessness, Rushanara Ali said the figures show some "positive signs" but admitted "far more needs to be done".

"Behind every homeless statistic is a person failed by the very system that is supposed to protect them. Reversing years of failure won’t happen overnight and I am determined to go further and faster to end the devastating crisis we inherited," she said.

"We must dig deep to tackle the root causes of homelessness. That’s why we’ve announced a huge £39 billion investment to build hundreds of thousands of social and affordable homes over the next decade, alongside abolishing Section 21 no fault evictions and driving up standards to deliver safe and secure housing for all."

She also said the Government was investing £1 billion into councils, which included the largest ever cash boost for homelessness prevention.