Diane Taylor
Sunday March 5, 2000
The government has been accused of a U-turn after admitting that it will not be able to take on responsibility for dispersing asylum seekers across the country as planned in order to share out the burden on local authorities. The Government needs to find 40,000 bed spaces around the country for asylum seekers, but only around 4,000 have been secured so far.
A statement is expected tomorrow announcing a phasing-in of government responsibility instead of the full take-over scheduled for 1 April.
People who make their asylum applications at a port - the minority - will become the responsibility of the Home Office, while those who apply once they are in the country will remain the responsibility of local authorities for up to six months.
Local authorities are currently responsible for the care of asylum seekers and, although they receive some grant aid for this, Kent and London boroughs - which look after the majority - say they are around £30 million short of the cash they need to support them.
The delay will have a significant impact on councils in the South East, which will have to provide accommodation for around 20,000 asylum seekers for up to six months. Kent County Council and the London borough of Hillingdon have warned that the extra cost will have to be picked up by council tax payers.
The backlog of asylum cases reached a record of 104,890 cases in January.
