Seaside towns are 'dumping grounds' for poor

British seaside towns have become "dumping grounds" for those on low incomes, welfare claimants and vulnerable people, a report warned today.

Former hotels have been converted into cheap flats in once-thriving beach resorts and are used by councils in wealthier areas as a low-cost option for placing vulnerable people, like children in care, the Centre for Social Justice thinktank said.

Britain is spending almost £2 billion a year on welfare payments to people of working age in seaside towns, the report found.

Seaside towns are suffering "severe social breakdown" as holiday-makers are deserting the UK in favour of overseas breaks.

The level of school failure, teenage pregnancy, lone parenting and worklessness in these towns rival inner-city areas which have previously been seen as the benchmark for deprivation.