£68k-a-year bill for each child refugee
EACH lone child refugee costs councils in Britain nearly £70,000 a year – with the bills continuing to land until they reach 25.
The migration crisis meant there were at least 4,560 unaccompanied youngsters seeking asylum at the end of last March – a rise of 134 per cent from 1,950 in 2013.
Costs to local authorities for every 100 unaccompanied children are estimated at £6.75million a year. The Home Office provides £3.35million – leaving a shortfall of £3.4million.
When a child claims asylum in the Uk they become the legal responsibility of the local authority in which they came forward.
Council chiefs have warned that they are struggling to cope because of the massive influx of young refugees who have managed to travel across the Channel and get into the Uk without parents or carers.
One in 16 children being looked after by town halls are now unaccompanied asylum seekers, compared to 1 in 33 in 2013 – almost double the rate.
Many who have arrived here illegally in the backs of lorries – often having fallen into the clutches of violent people-trafficking gangs – have come from war-torn countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. Many of the children have complex needs because of the trauma they have witnessed or hardships they have endured.
Council chiefs said that the number of arrivals is having significant implications for local taxpayers because town halls are responsible for all costs associated with each child under their care until they are 25. It includes schooling, foster care or children’s homes, through to university fees and housing costs.
Daily rates paid to councils by the Government went up from £95 to £114 for under 16s and from £71 to £91 for 16 and 17-year-olds.
It costs £67,634 per year to care for each of them, according to the Association of Directors of Children’s Services. That includes £50,716 for residential placement and linked care costs, £4,805 for education, £3,915 for healthcare and £3,826 for social workers.
For each lone child migrant, councils also typically pay £440 for interpreters and child advocates, £480 on English language lessons, £70 on dentists and £20 on doctor registration.
The total is still rising despite the closure of the Calais ‘Jungle’ camp in 2016 and the arrival of more than 300 child migrants in Britain.
The vast majority of those being supported by councils – 92 per cent – were boys. But the number of lone girls had soared by 19 per cent in the past year.
There has also been an increase in the numbers of unaccompanied asylum- seeking children aged 16 years and over – up 9 per cent to 3,540. But the number aged under 16 years has decreased slightly, by 3 per cent, to 1,020.
The Local Government Association last night called for more funding from the Government to help ease the burden on struggling councils. Deputy chairman David Simmonds said: ‘No one is disputing these children need to be cared for. We have a good track record when it comes to looking after them.
‘The Uk does a good job by these young people, take them in, find them accommodation... they go on to university, but councils quite simply cannot afford it. It could lead to services being cut back elsewhere.’