Nine councils, including those in Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Derby and Nottingham, spend £16,602 per year on care leaving services for every former unaccompanied asylum-seeking child aged 18 to 24 per year, a new report by East Midlands Councils states.
However, the average Home Office reimbursement for these services amounts to £6,117 per person per year. This covers just 37 per cent of care leaver costs of former UASC and amounts to a funding shortfall of £10,485 per person per year, the report states.
It adds that this could see local authorities across the region face a combined funding gap of between £11m and £15m by 2024.
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