Council may quit refugee scheme over £3.6m funding gap
Neil Puffett
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
A council is considering pulling out of a voluntary scheme for dispersing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children because government funding is £3.6m short of the predicted annual cost.
A report due to be considered by politicians at Dorset County Council today reveals that the council is currently accommodating 13 unaccompanied refugee children.
But based on the requirements of the voluntary scheme - which launched in July 2016 in a bid to relieve pressure on so-called "gateway authorities" such as Kent County Council - the council could be expected accept up to 0.07 per cent of its 0-19 population.
For Dorset, this equates to a total of 54, which means the council could theoretically be required to take on a further 41 children.
The report, put together by the council's director of children's services Sara Tough, calculates that provision for 50 children could cost as much as £5.3m per year. However, government contributions towards the cost would come to less than £1.7m - leaving a funding gap of £3.6m.
The report also reveals that the budget for looked-after children is already overspent by £5.1m in the current 2016/17 financial year, so any additional placements would increase this further.
The report recommends that the council highlights its concerns to government and inform it that the council may withdraw from the voluntary scheme until the government meets the full costs of placements and service provision, adjusts the scheme to ease some of the requirements, or makes participation in the scheme mandatory.
In October last year Leicestershire County Council pulled out of the scheme claiming it couldn't afford the estimated additional annual cost of £2m.
In November the Association of Directors of Children's Services warned that the cost to councils of looking after asylum-seeking children is "unsustainable", with funding from central government only covering half the expense.
An ADCS study found that despite Home Office funding increasing as of 1 July to £114 a day for under-16s and £91 a day for 16- and 17-year-olds, the money provided covers on average only 50 per cent of the true cost.
The government has previously said it will consider forcing local authorities to take on asylum-seeking children if they do not do so voluntarily.
