DOMESTIC abuse pushed Barrow people into homelessness or put them at risk of losing their homes dozens of times during the coronavirus pandemic, figures reveal.

A spike in such cases nationally has been branded “shocking” by domestic abuse charities, which are calling for more funding to help survivors.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government data shows in the year to March, the council in Barrow-in-Furness found 12 households had become homeless, while 13 needed help to prevent them from losing their home because of domestic abuse.

It means a total of 25 families needed housing help because of domestic abuse – 11 more than the previous year.

Across England, councils received 31,180 requests for help from households who had lost their accommodation or were threatened with homelessness due to domestic abuse in 2020-21 – a 17 per cent increase on the year before.

Of those, almost half were households with children.

Though the gender of the person applying for help is not specified, separate figures from the Office for National Statistics show women are more than twice as likely to be victims of domestic abuse as men.