The former Weymouth and Portland Borough Council spent tens of thousands of pounds every week on temporary accommodation for homeless families, new figures reveal.

And the old West Dorset District Council spent £7,000 every week.

Housing charity Shelter says councils are being forced to waste "vast sums" on unsuitable temporary accommodation because of a failure to invest in social housing, after the bill rose to more than £1 billion a year across England.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government figures show Weymouth and Portland Borough Council spent £1.1 million providing temporary accommodation to homeless households in 2018-19 – £21,680 per week.

This was a 46% increase on the previous year, £353,900 more over the year.

The biggest chunk of cash in Weymouth and Portland was spent on places in bed and breakfast accommodation, accounting for £582,180 of the total.

West Dorset District Council spent £383,000 – £7,370 per week.

This was a 50% increase on the previous year, £127,500 more over the year.

Again most cash in West Dorset was spent on places in bed and breakfast accommodation, accounting for £210,000 of the total.

Shelter describes B&Bs as "some of the worst places for families with children to live", as they often involve entire households living in one small room without cooking facilities.

Experts warn that a rise in private landlords offering expensive nightly accommodation to councils rather than short-term leases is placing an increasing burden on the public purse.

Across England, councils spent a combined total of almost £1.1 billion on temporary accommodation, an increase of 9% in just one year.

The figures do not include any administrative costs councils incur running homeless services, such as finding and allocating accommodation, or for homelessness prevention services.

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said the figures were a shocking but "entirely preventable consequence" of the country's housing emergency.

She said: "If consecutive governments had built the genuinely affordable social homes that are needed, fewer people would be homeless, and we would not be wasting vast sums on unsuitable temporary accommodation.

"What’s even more shameful is that so much of this public money is lining the pockets of unscrupulous private landlords, who can charge desperate councils extortionate rates for grim B&Bs, because there’s nowhere else for families to go."

Across England, more than 30% of the total was spent on B&B places, and a further 12% on other nightly accommodation.

Spending on B&Bs has more than doubled over the last five years

Ms Neate added: "This is a crisis we cannot allow politicians to ignore during this election.

"Social housing must be at the heart of every manifesto, and all parties must commit to at least 90,000 new social homes a year over the next parliament.

"If they don’t, all of us will pay an even higher price.”