The Computershare Loan Services and the Deposit Protection charity fund has donated £40,000 to help support homeless young people in the UK.

This is the fifth annual donation in a row to national homeless charity Depaul UK, bringing the total value of donations since 2020 to £200,000.

The charity said the donations help it to deliver crisis intervention, safe housing and mental health support to young people.

A Depaul UK spokesperson says: “We are seeing increasingly high numbers of young people without a safe place to stay or a family network to fall back on seeking help from our services. This support from Computershare means we can respond to emergencies and help young people build stable, independent lives.

“We want homelessness to be something our clients pass through rather than something that defines them or their future.”

Depaul UK estimates that rough sleeping in the UK increased 20% during the past year and that a young person becomes homeless around every four minutes nationally.

The pandemic, cost-of-living crisis and rental home shortages mean many young people are finding it difficult to rent, it adds.