Asylum children 'drain on cash'

The Home Office says new proposals will address the problem

The cost of looking after thousands of unaccompanied asylum seeker children is putting a major strain on council budgets, local authorities suggest.

A group of nine councils is lobbying MPs, complaining they are owed more than £30m in unpaid government support after providing education and care.

Each year about 3,000 children arrive unaccompanied in the UK to seek asylum, according to the Home Office.

The government says it will publish plans to ease councils' burdens.

A minority of the children are trafficked into Britain for the sex industry and others can end up being exploited in low-paid jobs.

Some also end up working as unpaid domestic servants.

Protection call

Councils have a duty to provide education and care with government support.

LOBBYING COUNCILS Birmingham Hounslow Hillingdon Hammersmith and Fulham Kent Manchester Oxfordshire Solihull West Sussex

But the nine authorities lobbying MPs say that, for different reasons, they do not get that financial support.

A significant problem arises when a child's appeals against deportation have been exhausted.

At this point, all government funding stops even though it can take months for the child in question to be removed from the UK - during which time the council pays full costs.

The councils also say grants are based on set sums which do not take into account the individual needs of asylum seeking children.

The Home Office says new proposals will address the problem.

Last week, campaigners called on the government to provide greater protection for refugee and asylum seeker children.

The government has signed up to the United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child but opts out when it comes to asylum seeking children.

The Scottish Refugee Council is calling for that to change.

The Home Office said any change would provide another avenue of appeal in immigration cases and said all children were protected under other laws.