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Kent Council has branded as chaotic the government's system for reimbursing councils for what they spend on asylum.

A statement from the council said the Home Office still owed it £14.8m in back payments and that meetings to resolve the issue were going nowhere.

Leader of the council Sandy Bruce-Lockhart said: "This is absolutely chaotic. The Home Office does not seem to know what is going on. We are still trying to settle the money owed to us from 2002-3. Background papers have been lost at the Home Office and its staff turnover means you never meet the same people twice."

He added that until now the government had agreed with the council that the costs were a national issue and should not be met by local council tax payers.

A spokesperson for the Home Office said the National Asylum Support Service was working closely with senior officers in Kent to "find a way forward".