A total of 5,224 children will wake up homeless on Christmas Day - an increase of 591 on last year - according to the charity, which called it a “scandal that so many children are having their long-term health, education and life chances put at risk”.

Shelter also released new research showing that almost a third (32 per cent) of working families in Scotland said they could only afford to pay their rent or mortgage for one month if they lost their jobs, raising the very real threat of increased homelessness among working families in Scotland should they suffer an adverse change in circumstances.

Of those polled by YouGov, 17 per cent said they would not be able to cover the cost of their housing at all if they lost their job, with a total of 32 per cent being able to cover just one month’s housing costs.

Alison Watson, deputy director of Shelter Scotland, said: “It’s damning evidence that once again we see a big rise in the number of children in Scotland who will wake up without a permanent home this Christmas. There are now more than one thousand extra children without a home than two years ago. This shows that despite the efforts of local authorities and the Scottish Government, the problem is getting worse, not better.

“Families with children can spend many weeks, months or even years stuck in temporary accommodation waiting for a house they can call home. Being homeless is particularly detrimental to children’s health, life chances and education, with research showing that homeless children miss on average 55 school days each year.

“It is simply unacceptable that on Christmas morning more than 5,000 children in Scotland will wake up without a permanent home of their own. We simply have to do more to make sure no child is homeless at Christmas or at any other time.”

She added: “The daily struggles faced by nearly half of working families in Scotland and the frightening possibility of losing their home is deeply concerning. Scotland already has a big homelessness problem and it’s clear that even a small shift in fortune for some would be enough to push them over the edge into a spiral of debt and possible homelessness.

“With so many families at risk of homelessness we need a much more robust safety net in place to catch people if they do suffer the human tragedy of losing their home.”