London and south-east councils support four-fifths of the UK’s asylum seeking children

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