Falkirk councillors criticise 'abhorrent underfunding' by Home Office to help support children seeking asylum

Falkirk Council is facing a shortfall of more than £400,000 to look after children and young people who have arrived in the UK, mainly on small boats. All councils are legally obliged to help look after some of the children who are put in emergency accommodation, and to assume full responsibility for them as looked after children.

Councillor Fiona Collie, spokesperson for health and social care, said: “It is a significant challenge that the Home Office continues to underfund this critical work by not recognising the cost of residential placements nor of continuing care. But I would like to recognise the work of our staff and various organisation and our communities for welcoming and supporting refugees and asylum seekers, particularly children and young people.

“As we see in Ukraine, Yemen, Afghanistan and most recently, Gaza, conflict, famine and natural disaster leave children and young people too often as their victims, forced to flee from their homes and countries. While we should continue to draw attention to the Home Office underfunding as vociferously as we possibly can, we should never ever stop being a place of safety and a chance to thrive for children and young people in this area.”

Council leader Cecil Meiklejohn also thanked the staff for the work to welcome children and young people who had some “harrowing stories”.

“The underfunding by the Home Office is abhorrent,” she said. “But like other local authorities up and down the country we have stepped up to make sure the young people are safe and cared for properly so they can start the healing process and look to the future. But we must recognise that the underfunding puts pressure on councils elsewhere and we do need to keep the pressure on.”

Falkirk Council also currently has 90 children from Ukraine in local schools and nurseries but this is expected to be fully funded until December next year. The council has increased the number of staff in its English as a Second Language outreach team to support the children at school.

The Labour group leader Councillor Anne Hannah added her thanks to the staff as well as the “schools and communities who have been welcoming children and young people into their homes and into their hearts”.

Conservative group leader Councillor James Kerr said they were also happy to support children who had been caught up in a humanitarian crisis through no fault of their own.