The government has promised to reimburse social services departments if children of failed asylum seekers are taken into care under proposed legislation.

Victoria Williams, national liaison officer for asylum seekers and refugees, told a conference in London last week that Home Office minister Beverley Hughes had made the pledge during a meeting with the Local Government Association.

"The minister made a commitment that local authorities would be able to get funding back if they had to take children into care as a result of families being denied support," Williams told the Asylum Support and Refugee Integration Conference, organised by Infolog Training.

Although the asylum bill has no specific measures about taking children into care, it proposes ending support for families whose applications have failed and who are unwilling to go home. If families become destitute as a result, the state will be obliged to support the children.

According to Williams, Hughes said taking children into care would be "a very last resort", and the family would have their options explained.

But Neil Gerrard, chairperson of the all-party parliamentary refugee group, warned that the change would have "big implications" for local authorities as they would be the ones faced with the decision on whether to take children into care after support is withdrawn from families.

However, he doubted that many children would be taken into care, saying many families would "disappear" instead, as happens with single people who are denied support.

Sandy Buchan, chief executive of Refugee Action, cautioned against focusing only on that issue.

"This happened in the last act," Buchan said. "The focus was on accommodation centres and the exclusion of children from mainstream schools and it allowed section 55 to get through unchallenged."