Rough sleepers put up in hotels during the coronavirus pandemic are to receive £14-a-day worth of food as part of a Government handout.

The daily support will be provided to 45 of Stoke-on-Trent's rough sleepers for the next three months thanks to the £57,960 funding.

It comes as many of them are being housed in The Crown Hotel, in Longton, after being taken off the streets at the start of the pandemic.

A further £15,000 will support around 50 homeless people currently staying in hostel accommodation across the city. They will be helped with 'food, fuel, Wi-Fi, and TV' costs.

It is part of a £1.083m Government fund which has been divided up by Stoke-on-Trent City Council.

Council leader Abi Brown said: "We are already working quickly so people can feel the benefit of this support as soon as possible. This funding has been targeted to help those people most in need.”

Video Loading

Homeless champion Lou Macari - who founded The Macari Centre, in Hanley - says there is 'still a lot of work to be done' to tackle the issue in the city.

He said: "There are a lot of organisations which do a lot of work and people are unaware of them. The Compassion Kitchen, at Sacred Heart Church, feeds around 60 to 70 people every week and they have to queue outside due to the current circumstances.

"Before the restrictions they would be able to go inside and be warm for an hour or so, have a good meal and socialise. They would be queuing waiting for it to open, and then just absolutely rush in, because there is such a demand for this kind of help.

"The same goes for the Baptist Church, on Regent Road. Trevor and his team have been doing a lot of work for many years - I've known them support 100 people each night. This kind of support is invaluable and without it a lot of people would really struggle.

"We see firsthand what they do and how hard they work and it just makes you realise that there is still a lot of work to be done to get rid of homelessness in the city.

"Any help these organisations get from the Government or the council is great and will be really valuable to them because it allows them to continue helping Stoke-on-Trent's most vulnerable."