Peter Gilroy, chair of the Association of Directors of Social Services' asylum seekers taskforce, called for a reassessment of the criteria for allocating money to councils. The grant for 2004/05, available to local authorities affected by the Hillingdon judgment that compels them to look after unaccompanied minors, failed to include costs such as assessment centres. "We have to look at a new way for how the money is allocated nationally," he said.
Neither did the grant, equivalent to approximately 22,000 per child each year, include indirect costs including interpreters, assessment and support staff.
A Home Office spokesman said it couldn't say how much was spent nationally to support asylum-seeking minors.
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