Agenda item

The Chair welcomed Sean Palmer, Director of Resettlement, Asylum Support and Integration Support at the Home Office (HO) and Tina Rea, Operations Director at Clearsprings Ready Homes Ltd. to the meeting.

Mr Palmer thanked Barnet for all the support that was being provided to asylum seekers and refugees in the Borough.

Mr Palmer answered questions from the Committee and Council.  With regards to costs incurred by the Council on contingency hotels, a new scheme was being implemented to pay the Council £250 for every asylum seeker placed in accommodation and to direct other Local Authorities in providing housing for asylum seekers. Through the scheme, an additional £3,500 per bed space would be made available for accepted dispersal accommodation.

Informal consultation on accomplishing full dispersal as a commitment to the New burdens doctrine was underway between the Government, Home Office (HO) and other interested parties. The HO had been working closely with Clearsprings to move people out of temporary accommodation in order of priority.

In relation to Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC), where a Local Authority’s child population consisted of over 0.07% asylum seeking children, a higher rate of funding would be made available. Additional children could be referred via the national transfer scheme to be looked after by other Local Authorities.

Mr Palmer apologised for the time taken in processing Asylum claims but reassured the Committee that a lot of work was being done to speed up the process, especially for asylum seeking children with a dedicated asylum case worker team in place.

The Age Assessments process had recently changed due to litigation (R (on the application of BF (Eritrea)) (Respondent) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Appellant) which ruled in favour of the HO.

Immigration Officers were being trained so as to be able to assess and determine whether one was 18 years of age or over.

The Nationality and Borders Act allowed for a National Age Assessment Board within the HO to enable social workers to conduct such assessments which would be binding on the LA. Any mitigation arising out of that would be the responsibility of the HO. It was noted that costs for assessments and legal challenges would be incurred by the HO. An exceptional cost fund had also been set up which invited LAs to refer additional costs incurred to the HO.

Chris Munday, Executive Director, Children’s and Family Services, highlighted that £250 per person was approximately a quarter of what had been spent per person in contingency hotels and as of September 2021, the Council had already disbursed over £600,000. In addition, Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG)

funding had been set aside for schools to enable support for children coming in at different times of the year.

Mr Palmer explained that £250 was only a contribution towards costs incurred by LAs. The New burdens doctrine would need to be adopted to assess Barnet’s situation and going forward, additional costs could be picked up by the Home Office.

Mr Munday said that there was over 300 UASC and over 800 families in hotels with a large influx of people over the years. 25% of Barnet’s Looked After Children were UASC and they have been supported substantially by Barnet.

It was noted that all figures including different tariff funding arrangements may not have covered all costs incurred and that some asylum claims may need to be processed through mainstream benefits.  

Ms Rea offered ways to ease some of Barnet’s burden which included limiting the number of children being enrolled which would otherwise have a negative impact on the class.  Certain types of accommodation could also be provided upon request.

Members highlighted that hotels have been at maximum capacity for two years and enquired about an indicative time on when the New burden doctrine would be completed so as to move people out of temporary accommodation.

It was noted that it took an average of 12 weeks from identifying a property to moving in. Procurement requests were continuously being made with LAs in the UK to acquire more dispersal properties. However, procuring social housing or affordable housing had been a challenge.

Mr Palmer accepted that it was unusual for families to remain in hotels for lengthy periods of time which could be due particular needs such as accessibility issues. Mr Palmer offered to look into those cases to help ensure that people were moved on as quickly as possible.

It was noted that funding for costs incurred by the LA would not be backdated.

Members stressed the importance and urgency to alleviate some of the pressures faced by the Council.

The Chair highlighted that the way in which different groups of asylum seeker claims have been dealt with depending on their country of origin, was worrying and could give rise to an equalities issue. The Chair also highlighted the limited facilities for families, enquiring about the longest length of time one was placed in a hotel and whether the disruption to continuity of life during dispersal had been taken into account.

The data on the length of ‘stayers’ would be provided to the Council after the meeting by Ms Rea.

It was noted that there have been no issues with communication with the availability of translation services and a library of languages. A new online digital service in some hotels also help speed up applications.

It was recommended that the Council participated with the New burdens doctrine analysis and to provide accurate figures to the HO to allow consideration of the impact of cost on the LA. Officers would work with the HO to establish a true baseline for the New burdens doctrine.

Ms Rea added that many communal spaces had reopened after Covid and a range of activities were available to ensure that children and young people were well supported. For the summer holidays, Ms Rea welcomed ideas from the Council as staff at Clearsprings would be happy to engage in activities with young people.

Mr Palmer also offered to assist with the day to day needs as required by the Council.

It was noted that data on the longest length of stay would be fed back to Officers by the Home Office and Clear Springs providing accurate reasons as to why people were accommodated for lengthy periods of time.

The Chair thanked the guests for attending the meeting and their contribution.

RESOLVED:

-       That members note the report

-       That members take the opportunity to question guest representatives from the Home Office and Clearsprings Ready Homes