MORE than £250,000 was spent on temporary accommodation for homeless people in a 12-month period.

A report, which will be discussed by a council scrutiny committee on Tuesday, revealed the figure for 2020/21 and represents a hike from the previous year’s spend of £140,000.

Expenditure has increased year-on-year since 2015/16, when it was under £25,000.

The report added: “Between April 2020 and February 2021, outreach officers responded to 857 rough sleeper reports.

“There is a high rate of returning rough sleepers in Barnsley and this is an area we are keen to address.”