Daily roundup 3 December: Housing costs, truancy and Rotherham departure

The soaring cost of housing has left 500,000 people on the brink of eviction, latest figures show. The Metro reports that 204,689 possession orders were sent to rented and mortgaged properties in England between October 2013 and September 2014. Charity Shelter said, based on the average household occupancy, this equates to 474,500 people a year facing eviction. Shelter chief executive Campbell Robb said the "sky-high" cost of housing is making it harder for families to keep a roof over their heads.


Teenage girls are playing truant and opting out of classroom discussions because they hate the way they look, a government-commissioned report has found. The Times reports that a study by the University of West England found that one in six girls admitted they had taken several days off because they were conscious about their appearance.


Rotherham Council chief executive Martin Kimber has been paid £26,000 to leave the authority two months early. The Sheffield Star reports that Kimber received the sum to leave the authority on 31 October, rather than staying on until his originally planned departure date at the end of December.


Figures obtained by a Freedom of Information request show that Worcestershire County Council paid more than £1m in compensation to school pupils in 2013. The BBC reports that the payments were made in response to six claims, including one by a pupil who fell during a school trip. The council has not made any payments to pupils in 2014.


Labour’s Stockport MP Ann Coffey has warned that thousands of children who go missing from schools in Manchester are at risk of sexual exploitation. The Manchester Evening News reports that Coffey wants councils to hold list of persistent absentees to help identify children at risk of exploitation.


Wakefield Council has approved plans to close 11 of its 23 children’s centres. The Wakefield Express reports that the decision to close the centres was made as part of efforts to cut £2.5m from the council’s children’s centres spend.