'Out-of-pocket' councils take child asylum case to House of Lords

Ten local authorities that are looking after more than 3,500 vulnerable unaccompanied asylum seeking children, and are millions of pounds out of pocket, have taken their case to the House of Lords this week.

The councils: Birmingham, Hammersmith and Fulham, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Kent, Liverpool, Manchester, Oxfordshire, Solihull and West Sussex have spent more than £100million in just the last two years caring for young asylum seekers who arrive in the country with no-one to care for them.

The government owes the authorities more than £30million in unmet costs, leaving some no choice but to increase council tax or cut services.

As a result of this shortfall, ministers, government officials, refugee and children's charities, MPs, Peers and councillors from the areas involved were to the House of Lords to discuss the challenges of supporting thousands of unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC).

UASC represent approximately 10 per cent of all children in care, while locally the figure is 6.5 per cent (around 140 children). Often, they are youngsters who have left their homes in violent and traumatic circumstances and are in poor health.

Tony Howell, Birmingham City Council's Strategic Director for Children, Young People and Families, said: "We have a duty of care to these young people – which we take extremely seriously – and as such government legislation requires us to provide a range of services to them.

"However legislation governing the care that should be provided to them conflicts with the government's own rules about the grants councils can be paid to provide such services.

"This means local councils and taxpayers such as those here in Birmingham are left with huge bills. As a city we face a funding shortfall of more than £500,000 because of this situation, which is something that clearly needs to be addressed.

"We need a long-term solution that refunds 100 per cent of the costs to local authorities. Leaving this bill unmet makes it continually more difficult to provide appropriate care for these vulnerable children and can create resentment in our communities."

Save the Children UK is one of the charities supporting calls for proper funding from government for the support of UASC.

Assistant programme director for Save the Children's protection team Terry Smith said: "Many separated asylum seeking children arrive in this country alone and deeply traumatised and the care and protection they receive from local authorities is key to their survival. They are children first and foremost and their welfare can no longer be compromised by funding constraints."

The Chairman of the LGA Task Group on Asylum and Refugees Councillor Roger Lawrence added: "There isn't a cigarette paper between the views of the LGA and the affected councils.

"The LGA has had a policy that councils providing services to asylum seekers should be refunded all reasonably incurred costs. We are continuing to press the government to ensure that this happens, and quickly."