Home Office handling of asylum system criticised

A Royal Borough cabinet member has called on the Government to ‘urgently’ address the difficulties the council is facing in providing for asylum seekers and refugees.

Currently, the Borough has asylum seekers and refugees staying in two hotels – the Holiday Inn in Maidenhead and the Manor Hotel in Datchet.

In September, the Government came under fire by the Borough, Datchet Parish Council and residents for not communicating or co-ordinating with the council on the appropriateness of the latter choice.

The council receives a direct sum of money from the Government per person placed, to cover accommodation.

But Cllr Stuart Carroll, cabinet member for children’s services, education and health, said this does not address the ‘downstream’ pressures put on services, including school places and transport, housing and healthcare.

The problems are ‘significant and substantial’ he said.

The Borough currently has 223 national refugees (those not coming in via any specific scheme, such as the Ukrainian one).

Cllr Carroll said there is a shortage in Year 5 places in particular across the borough. It has also had to increase capacity on school transport, costing about £59,000.

Moreover, young people often have complex needs and require social care assessments.

The borough has had to conduct assessments of around 86 Ukrainian children and young people and 63 for those of other nationalities across the hotels.

On the healthcare side, there have been about 50 drop-in sessions in surgeries for the two hotels in Maidenhead and Datchet since April.

These require one-to-three health staff each, which is a ‘significant resource’.

Specific adult social care requirements also come with ‘a package of costs’ – and unaccompanied asylum seekers often need mental health support.

“For anybody who’s fleeing persecution, safeguarding becomes imperative,” said Cllr Carroll.

“You’ve got some very vulnerable people, fleeing terrible, unspeakable horrors. Those people will often need serious interventions.

“The location becomes really important. To simply dump any individual in a hotel or location that isn’t optimal for that rehabilitation process is not an appropriate way to run an asylum system.”

As such, he called for the Government to engage with local authorities with ‘collaboration, cooperation and consent’ before placing asylum seekers in a local area.

“People are not averse to us playing our part – we’re a compassionate nation. But it’s critical that Government gets a grip of the situation, so councils are not unduly burdened,” said Cllr Carroll.

He highlighted that the lack of Government funding to cover the extra pressures make it difficult for the borough to deliver services to those that need it the most.

“[Currently,] we’re having to find that resource. Because we have a legal obligation to deliver a balanced budget, that puts more strain on the local authority,” he said.

Cllr Carroll would also like to see changes taking place at the border level to help the situation.

“The Government needs to set up a dedicated border unit. We saw something similar with the vaccine passports – the pandemic was an emergency crisis and we’re in a similar situation here.

“This is an international and national disaster, and a
humanitarian crisis of extreme proportions. We have to treat it like an emergency, because it is.

“It needs to be taken out of the Home Office. I don’t think it has frankly shown itself to be capable,” he said.

A Home Office spokesperson said the use of hotels to house asylum seekers is ‘unacceptable’.

“The number of people arriving in the UK who require accommodation has reached record levels and has put our asylum system under incredible strain,” the spokesperson said.

“The use of hotels is a short-term solution and we are working hard with local authorities to find appropriate accommodation.

“We engage with local authorities as early as possible whenever sites are used for asylum accommodation and work to ensure arrangements are safe for hotel residents and local people.”