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Local authorities in London and the South East are caring for more than 80 per cent of the asylum-seeking children in England that need social services, writes Derren Hayes.

The Department of Health’s revised Children in Need statistics published last week show that, out of 12,080 asylum-seeking children in need in England during one week last year, 10,255 were being provided with services by councils in the South East and the capital. 

In London alone, nearly 8,500 asylum-seeking children were either being looked after by social services or provided with assistance and support to enable them to live with their family or independently. 

London boroughs caring for the most number of children include Haringey, Enfield, Islington, Westminster and Barnet. In the South East, Kent, Slough and Oxfordshire Councils were most affected. 

The figures – the result of a census in September 2001 looking at the number of children in need cared for by social services department in a normal week – back-up claims by London and South East councils that they are taking on too much of the burden of caring for asylum seekers. 

- Children in Need in England at www.doh.gov.uk/cin/cin2001results.htm