Caring for lone child refugees costs councils £150m a year

THE cost to taxpayers of looking after child asylum seekers who arrive in the country without parents has nearly doubled in four years, councils said yesterday.

Last year’s bill for helping nearly 4,500 such children in the state care system was more than £150million, they revealed.

It follows a leap in the number of unaccompanied child refugees since the migration crisis of 2014 and 2015 that sprang from the Syrian war.

Since 2016 more than one in 20 of the youngsters in children’s homes or with foster parents have been classed as unaccompanied asylum seekers.

The Local Government Association said councils in England spent £152.4million in the financial year 2017/18 on looking after these children, compared with £77.8million in 2014/15.

Councils are required by law to accommodate and care for under-18s who have no relative or guardian in the UK and who apply for asylum.

Councils were caring for 4,480 such youngsters at the end of March last year, up from 2,760 in 2015. Around nine in ten are boys and three- quarters are aged over 16. The total cost includes bills for looking after children who social workers believe are in fact adults.

Councils demanded more money from the Government to cope with the numbers.

David Simmonds, of the LGA, said: ‘Councils have a strong track record supporting those resettling in the UK and are to providing the best support possible.

‘However, given the significant financial pressures councils are under as they set local budgets and council tax in the coming weeks, achieving the level of support new arrivals are legally entitled to is becoming more and more challenging.

‘Councils want to make sure every child in their care gets the very best support which keeps them safe from harm, and enacommitted bles them to go on and live fulfilling, happy and healthy lives.

‘This is why the Government needs to announce the findings of its long overdue review into the funding of support for unaccompanied children.’

Checks by Liverpool Council last year indicated that 24 out of 39 unaccompanied child asylum seekers in the city were adults, and the local authority began legal action to stop having to support them.

Mr Simmonds said in December: ‘This is a national issue. The process at the border is pretty weak because there is no definitive way of checking age.

‘ Lawyers know a judicial review will cost a council between £20,000 and £60,000 and use the threat of court to get their client what they want.

‘Fair play to Liverpool for trying to stand up to it. but win or lose, the taxpayer always loses out.’

‘Financial pressures’