Guardian analysis reveals families often given little notice to relocate to already deprived communities far away with no extra support

• ‘Take this house or you’re homeless’: families sent to a Durham town from London

Councils in England are paying millions to relocation companies to help them permanently move homeless families out of big cities and the south-east in a practice that has been called a “national scandal”.

A Guardian analysis of local government spending data shows that councils in the UK’s two biggest cities, London and Birmingham, and more than a dozen local authorities across the south-east of England have given more than £5.2m to firms that facilitate moves to cheaper parts of the country since 2020.