Croydon, in south London, said it has suffered a £2.3m government funding gap in the cost of looking after unaccompanied asylum-seeking children that “poses a safeguarding risk to children’s services” in the borough.
The funding gap could hit £7m by 2024, the council has warned.
It is currently responsible for 156 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children as well as 477 care leavers who had arrived unaccompanied.
Government guidelines state that these children should make up 0.07 per cent of all children under the care of the local authority, which would amount to just 66 in Croydon.
The council has said it will be forced to stop accepting new unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) if the government does not provide additional funding and make the National Transfer Scheme – a voluntary rota system designed to share responsibility across all local authorities – compulsory.
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