Spending on unaccompanied children seeking asylum has doubled over the last four years, according to the Local Government Association (LGA), piling the pressure on councils’ children’s services budgets.
The LGA says that overall children’s services face a £3.1bn funding gap by 2025 just to maintain the current levels of service.
It calls on the government to complete its review to the cost of councils of dealing with unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, and to ensure that an adequate level of funding is made available to deal with the problem in this year’s Spending Review.
The LGA says councils spent more than £152m on asylum-seeking children in 2017/18, an increase of 95% over 2014/15.
The figures exclude the costs of care placement, and consequently the LGA says the total cost is likely to be much higher.
Cllr David Simmonds, Chairman of the LGA’s Asylum, Migration and Refugee Task Group, said: “Councils have a strong track record supporting those resettling in the UK and are committed 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.”
