Construction union Ucatt accused the government yesterday of siphoning off millions of pounds from its Right to Buy scheme to line its own coffers at the expense of the desperate.

A freedom of information (FoI) request by Inside Housing magazine had found that nearly a quarter — £358 million — of the cash raised from Right to Buy sales of council housing since 2012 had gone directly into government coffers.

The union described the findings as a vindication of its criticism of Con-Dem housing policy.

“Ucatt warned in 2012 this policy would only make the homelessness crisis worse and sadly we have been proved all too correct,” said Ucatt general secretary Steve Murphy.

“The housing crisis cannot be solved by selling off scarce housing stock. What is desperately needed is new direct funding to allow councils to build the homes that people need.

In total £1.54 billion in revenue has been generated by Right to Buy sales since 2012 when the government reinvigorated the policy by increasing discounts to a maximum of £75,000 (£100,000 in London).

The FoI request found that only £588.3m had been used to build replacement homes, of which only 4,500 had been started since 2012.

Of the remaining £929.4m, £368.3m was used to repay

councils’ historical housing debt.

Another £151.5m went into council general funds, while £12.7m was spent by councils repurchasing homes previously sold under Right to Buy.

Finally, £38.8m was spent on the administration of the scheme.

“These figures demonstrate that the government’s reviving of the Right to Buy has been an unmitigated failure,” said Mr Murphy.

“Families desperate for housing are being punished as money is siphoned off to boost the Treasury’s coffers.

But Housing Minister Brandon Lewis riposted: “For the first time the reinvigorated Right to Buy requires councils to reinvest their sales receipts directly into building new affordable homes to rent in their area.

“Since its launch, councils across the country have built or acquired 4,800 new affordable homes to rent as a result and stock holding councils have signed up to delivering almost 10,000 more over three years.”