VULNERABLE people could be out on the streets after an eviction ban ended on Monday.

Tim Farron, MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, former member of parliament for Carlisle raised an urgent question in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

The MP asked Minister of State for Housing Christopher Pincher what The Government is doing to support those at risk of homelessness following lockdown.

A memorandum was in place to ban evictions during lockdown to protect those who have lost their job due to the pandemic from becoming homeless.

Mr Farron has said: "It ended on Monday so now it means that landlords can use the courts to take possession of properties."

He is concerned that the UK has seen 55,000 residents served with an eviction notice before August 3, their landlords were not obliged to give six months notice and now that the ban has been lifted, the courts could be processing their eviction immediately.

"We have come across a few people who are in a very bad way."

"We need some kind of financial package to help those people."

Pete Moran, head of Cumbria Law Centre in Carlisle, is one of the people responsible for supporting those individuals and he holds concerns for a rise in similar cases.

"We're tied up at the minute with complicated illegal possession cases, some landlords in the private sector have circumvented the legal process and locked people out of their properties.

"The amount coming from illegal possession at the moment is unusually high."

An expected further rise in evictions and job losses would be a heavy burden for the already in-demand law centre.

"It wouldn't take many of those to fill up our capacity, they are legally complicated involving people with complicated lives."

Responding to Mr Farron's question in parliament, the Minister of State for Housing said: "The Government has taken unprecedented action to support renters by banning evictions for six months, preventing people from getting into financial hardship and helping businesses to pay salaries."

However, he added: "We must strike a balance so that landlords are able to access justice."