MORE than a million people — including 300,000 children — in Britain were classed as destitute last year, according to a study published today.

Four out of five of the 1.25m people found without means to provide for themselves were born in Britain, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation research shows, and most were most likely to be single young men. However, considerable numbers of families were also counted.

Common causes for their utter poverty included high costs of housing and other essential bills, unemployment and benefit sanctions or delays.