02 May 2008
A resolution of the long-running row over funding the care of unaccompanied asylum-seeker children looks to be near, after ministers conceded that the existing regime needs to be overhauled and agreed to re-examine it.
Ten local authorities say they are owed more than £30m in costs, putting significant pressure on council tax and services, because the Home Office and the Department for Children, Schools and Families are not underwriting the responsibilities they place on councils to care for the children.
But hopes of a breakthrough are running high following a meeting with immigration minister Liam Byrne and children's minister Kevin Brennan last week. The pair have agreed to work with the affected councils to find a solution to the funding shortfall.
The councils, which look after a total of 3,500 asylum-seeker children, are: Birmingham, Liverpool; Manchester; Solihull; Kent, Oxfordshire and West Sussex counties; and the London boroughs of Hillingdon, Hounslow and Hammersmith & Fulham.
Speaking after the meeting on April 24, Kent council leader Paul Carter, whose authority has spearheaded the funding campaign, said the government must honour the agreement reached six years ago, under which it had undertaken to reimburse the full costs incurred by councils caring for these children.
'They have agreed to work with the affected local authorities to find a positive solution to the funding crisis within a matter of weeks,' he said.
'We desperately need a long-term solution to this national issue, so that we do not have the same situation year on year, where the costs of supporting the children fall to taxpayers living in the most affected areas. And our discussions with government must include reaching an agreement over the historical debt.'
Roger Lawrence, who is chairing a task force on asylum and refugees for the Local Government Association, welcomed the news. The organisation has thrown its weight behind the councils' campaign.
'The LGA has long had a policy that councils providing services to asylum seekers should be refunded all reasonably incurred costs,' he said.
'It is very good news that the government is starting to listen to us and has made a commitment to resolve the problem quickly.'
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