Councils call for more funding to cover child refugee care costs

The Local Government Association (LGA) has warned that councils will need more funding to cover the cost of caring for refugee children, in order to avoid increasing council tax and cutting services.

The news comes after the government has agreed to resettle 3,000 more unaccompanied refugee children, from July.

The LGA has said the number of spaces councils will make available will depend on funding. Currently, children are being loosed after where they arrive, mostly in Kent and near Heathrow airport.

David Simmonds, deputy leader of Hillingdon council, which cares for children who arrive at the airport, said: "Unless there's additional funding in the system we'll need to see either increases in council tax to pay for supporting refugee children or we'll see local councils cutting other services."

The government has agreed to provide more money to councils to support newly arrived unaccompanied refugee children, around £41,600 annually for those under 16 years old. However, Simmonds, deputy chair of the LGA, has outlined that the arrangement actually falls short of the real cost of £50,000 per year.