21 September 2007
'Hidden communities' of immigrants could be overlooked in forthcoming government grant settlements to local authorities, putting service provision at risk, urban councils have warned.
Sixteen local authorities convened a 'population summit' last week to discuss the impact on UK cities of poor national immigration data.
The authorities, led by the City of Westminster, claim that the government has miscalculated their populations and say that they could be locked into three-year funding settlements that fail to account for millions of pounds in extra service costs. The authorities claim that the data used by the Office for National Statistics to determine grant settlements do not accurately account for short-term or illegal immigrants.
On September 13, Westminster published research claiming that the borough has more than 13,000 illegal immigrants, many of whom are working, and that 11,000
short-term visitors 'are hidden as they are not registered in official statistics'. The council estimates that this has left it with an £18m shortfall in government cash.
The largest group of short-term migrants identified were Australians. But Westminster is also concerned that poor monitoring of Asian immigrants, for example, means that many are being exploited by employers.
Colin Barrow, deputy leader of Westminster, said: 'We are now calling for the government to hold its hands up, admit they have simply lost count and act quickly to sort this mess out. At present, the government ignores these people, as they are too difficult to measure, rather than fund services to support them.'
Twelve London councils attended the summit, but other authorities, including Manchester, Peterborough and Birmingham, face similar problems. Officials from Westminster, the Home Office and the ONS met to discuss the problem on September 18.
Public Finance understands that the Local Government Association is also in talks with ministers over Whitehall plans to fast-track applications from asylum seekers.
The Border and Immigration Agency has until 2011 to clear a backlog of 450,000 asylum case files, but LGA officials want to ensure that councils are provided with sufficient funds to house and care for new immigrants.
BIA chief executive Lin Homer has recognised the problems. 'We don't want to simply transfer the impact from one part of the public sector to another,' she told PF.
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