Concerns over changes to system for child asylum seekers coming to Sunderland

Together For Children (TFC), the ‘outstanding’ Ofsted-rated agency delivering children’s services on behalf of Sunderland City Council, has responsibility for children and young people in the area.

This includes children and young people found to be seeking asylum within the Sunderland area and those referred to the city via the Home Office National Transfer Scheme.

At a council meeting, it was revealed changes to the National Transfer Scheme in late-October, 2022, could have major implications for council finances.

Councillors heard that TFC had been successful in finding homes for all children referred via the national scheme so far, with its ‘Next Steps Team’ developing a “bespoke pathway and expertise” in supporting young people.

However, changes to the national scheme will see the ‘transfer deadline’ for all unaccompanied asylum seeking children not currently in the care of a local authority halved from 10 working days to five working days.

Local authorities will be provided with an additional £2,000 per month for each child transferred from a hotel within five working days to local authority care, with funding provided for three months.

Other changes include an increase in the ‘operating threshold’ which sets out how many unaccompanied children under 18 can be placed in a local authority area, which in Sunderland, would increase from 11 to 54.

As a result TFC bosses have predicted a potential overspend within TFC of around £5million for this service.

The financial prediction also falls against a backdrop of challenges around assessing the age of children seeking asylum, finding support for those who have faced trauma and the cost and availability of language interpreters.

The report was presented by Tracy Jelfs , TFC’s head of service for cared for children and provider services, at a Children, Education and Skills Scrutiny Committee on Thursday, November 3.

She told the meeting of the potential financial impact of the changes based on forecasting of potential figures.

“If we did a projection for the full 54 young people in our allocation for this year, we would be looking at approximately £5million overspend just on this group of young people,” she said.

While stressing children were getting a good service and that staff had been ‘upskilled’ to provide effective support, TFC bosses added Home Office delays can also have impacts elsewhere.

This includes impacts on the availability of supported accommodation for other care experienced children on Wearside.

Councillor Katherine Mason-Gage, chair of the Children, Education and Skills Scrutiny Committee, described the presentation as “the most shocking report I have ever heard”.

Councillor Phil Tye questioned how the changes to the national scheme had been brought forward in such a short time-scale, and raised concerns about the future impacts on councils and children seeking asylum.

The councillor said he was “blown away” by the £5million overspend projection, which he worried would place further pressure on existing city council budgets.

Cllr Tye also said the presentation was a “sensitive subject” and clarified he was “critical of the [national] scheme rather than the need to look after children”.

Councillor Patricia Smith said the situation did not appear to have been handled properly and added further concern about the impact on budgets.

“There seems to be no let up to this and it doesn’t seem that it’s being handled in the correct way,” she said.

“So I only hope there’s somebody somewhere doing something about it because at the end of the day, this council and other councils can’t afford it”.

Councillors heard there were positive stories about the impacts that have been made on children seeking asylum within the education sector.

Simon Marshall, director of education services at TFC, said work was ongoing with Sunderland City Council to “understand the true cost” of the National Transfer Scheme changes.

In response to councillors’ concerns, Mr Marshall also stressed that TFC’s decisions were always “based on need” and that finance “does not effect our decision-making around keeping children safe”.

He added: “I think the Sunderland family of schools and social care genuinely wraps themselves around these young people”.

Following debate, the Children, Education and Skills Scrutiny Committee suggested sending a letter to the Home Office, which would be finalised outside the meeting.

It was also suggested that a potential “cross-party emergency motion” could be developed and presented to full council.

Councillor Louise Farthing, Sunderland City Council’s Labour cabinet member for children, education and skills, said the local authority would continue to lobby the Government on the matter.

Cllr Farthing, speaking after the meeting, said stressed figures discussed at the meeting were based on projections of a worst-case scenario, but added there were issues of concern over the impact of the changes.

“We as a council are as concerned as everyone else is about the current refugee and asylum seeker system and the pressures it is putting on services across the country," she said.

“There is a significant cost associated with the National Transfer Scheme for unaccompanied asylum seeking children which the council is concerned about.

“The figure reported at scrutiny was a forecast, and worst case-scenario forecast so that scrutiny members have a clear understanding of the scale of the issue for local government.

“As mentioned, we are continuing to comply fully with the schemes and also lobby the Government about these matters.”