4:10pm Monday 29th September 2008
By Oliver Evans
THE number of children sent on their own from Iraq and Afghanistan to seek asylum in Buckinghamshire has risen “significantly” and is hitting funds, a council boss has warned.
A leading member of Buckinghamshire County Council, which has a duty to look after the children, said the increase risked pushing budgets into the red.
Lin Hazell, cabinet member for children and families social care, spoke out as the authority – which gets the biggest cut of council tax bills – warned next year’s spending will be “tougher than ever”.
She said it was not clear why there had been an increase – but claimed Government funding was not enough to cope.
Taking the bold step of writing to all councillors she said: “There has been, over the past couple of months, a significant increase in the number of unaccompanied asylum seeking children in Buckinghamshire.
“We now have over 40 children and young people under the age of 18 whom we are supporting.
“They originate from many different countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran”.
This “created further pressure on our residential and fostering services as well as our expenditure on out of county placements”.
She said: “We continue to work with partners, including the police, to understand what might be the underlying reasons for this recent increase in numbers.”
Cllr Hazell told Bucks Free Press that Government funding is “nowhere near enough” given the pressure it places on foster and school places and residential care.
She said: “There is a perception that we are not affected in Buckinghamshire. We have always had a very tight budget and it has to be very strictly managed.
“We always seem to manage but it could be we run into overspend.”
The council gets £108.18 per day for children under 16 and £48.48 per day for 17 to 18 year olds – and the council must bear extra costs.
Council staff’s job was made even tougher as Muslim children are “ideally” placed with a Muslim family – and staff were sometimes unsure whether the children are under 18.
She said: “These young people do have very special cultural needs and we can’t just plonk them anywhere.”
Beaconsfield MP and shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve said Cllr Hazell was “absolutely right”.
He said: “I will do my best to lobby the Government on the county’s behalf.”
Mr Grieve said a “key issue” for the Government was how quickly applications for asylum were processed by the UK Border Agency.
He added: “The fact they unaccompanied raises a number of complicated issues as to how they get to this country.”
The average “band D” household pays £1,018 council tax a year to the county council, the majority of the final bill. This pays for about 80 per cent of council services.
A council statement this month said: “This year’s budget setting is likely to be tougher than ever – the county will be feeling the credit crunch pinch just like every householder and resident it serves.”
The majority of unaccompanied asylum seekers, about 80 per cent, did not seek asylum at airports and sea ports, said Refugee Council spokesman Hannah Ward.
The conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq had led to children being “targeted”, she said.
She said: “These are vulnerable young people. They come on their own and no-one would deny they need certain services to fulfill their needs.”
A UK Border Agency spokesman said it was working to “support a compassionate immigration system for children aligned to their special needs”.
He said the number of children seeking asylum had “fallen in recent years, due in part to our stronger borders”.
He said: “We recognise that a small number of local authorities still consider that there are outstanding issues about funding services for this group of vulnerable young children.”
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