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Attendees: Cllr Paul Carter, Cllr Merrick Cockell, Cllr Roger Lawrence, Helen Johnston, John Ransford.

Local Government has worked very closely with previous Ministers in the Home Office to assist in delivering the Government's asylum and immigration policies and we look forward to continuing that close working relationship. However, there are major shortfalls in the current level of funding for the support for unaccompanied asylum seeking children leaving care which we think is in our mutual interest to resolve.

The urgent need for a prompt resolution of this issue has cross-party, high-level political support across local authorities. This is an issue that cuts across government, regardless of departmental budget restrictions, as both continuing and retrospective incurred costs must be met fully.

Issues to resolve

Central government must meet the reasonable costs incurred by every affected local authority in relation to the support of young asylum seekers leaving care as:

A key principle of asylum policy between local and central government is the recognition that this is a national issue. As such, costs must be met centrally and not fall on local authorities, particularly as asylum seekers are concentrated in a number of areas. If funding is not made available, the costs will inevitably be met through cuts to local services or an increase in council tax.

The pressures on local authorities for support to asylum seekers leaving care are a consequence of the Hillingdon Judgment. The Hillingdon Judgment must be treated as a new burden under the CLG New Burdens Doctrine.

Local authorities have a statutory duty of care for these young people and their welfare can no longer be compromised by funding constraints. We are also concerned about possible cohesion implications following service cuts due to budget pressures and an increase in destitution locally through the withdrawal of support.

Surveys undertaken by the LGA and London Councils in relation to both Leaving Care and Special Circumstances Grants have demonstrated that there are a number of robust reasons for variations in unit costs between authorities, mainly due to differing accommodation costs. Four local authorities with substantial populations of asylum seekers have had their accounting processes independently reviewed by Pricewaterhouse Coopers, which demonstrates the integrity of the claims.

Local authorities have welcomed the review of services for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) as the current system is inconsistent, outdated and under-resourced. However, until a resolution is found to the current conflict with local authorities bearing the cost of post 18 care, local authorities are unlikely to be in a position to engage with government proposals. The LGA has sought meetings with Liam Byrne to discuss this issue on five occasions in the past year and has so far been unsuccessful.

Current context

We were appreciative of the additional £1.6 million agreed by the previous DCSF minister, Parmjit Dhanda, at a meeting on 19 October 2006. However, we were aware that significant shortfalls remained and requested further contact. Though we have consistently pressed for one department to lead on the funding of asylum seekers to ensure a simpler and more transparent system, we believe that a further meeting has been continually delayed as a result of long-term discussion between DCSF and the Home Office in relation to the future location of the grant funding.

In recent years we have reached a welcome level of understanding between the Local Government Associations and the Home Office to have an open debate about funding levels for the special circumstances grant, which covers Local Authority support for UASC. It is regretful but it seems that the close working relationship has been prejudiced, as for the settlement for 2006/07, we have had no advance data, no discussion about possible funding levels and no negotiation process offered to minimise the shortfalls to be felt by local authorities.

Local Government Association

London Councils

April 2008

Meeting with Liam Byrne MP and Kevin Brennan MP re local authority support for unaccompanied asylum seeking children leaving care