The move, which is part of a package of measures to feature in a new safeguarding strategy for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, follows concerns raised by councils that existing Home Office funding does not cover the full cost of looking after children.
Local authorities are currently able to claim £41,610 a year for unaccompanied children under 16 and £33,215 a year for unaccompanied children aged between 16 and 17.
A number of councils have pulled out of a voluntary national dispersal scheme, designed to relieve the pressure on so-called "gateway authorities" such as Kent County Council, claiming that taking on additional unaccompanied children would leave them facing a massive bill.
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