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Local authority spending on social care for adult asylum seekers is up 165 per cent since 2019-20, from £50.6 million to £133.9 million in 2024-25.Total spending by councils on social care for asylum seekers, including children, was almost £744 million in 2024-25.Kent the highest spending council with £41.6 million in costs, up from £9.9 million in 2019-20.

Local authorities are paying 165 per cent more on social care for asylum seeking adults than they did five years prior, a new report by the TaxPayers’ Alliance has revealed. 

As councils prepare their budgets for 2026-27, campaigners have warned that social care for asylum seekers is “yet another ticking time bomb” in town hall budgets.Total council spending on social care for asylum seeking adults was almost £134 million in 2024-25, up from £50.6 million five years prior albeit down from a peak of almost £191 million in 2022-23. 

Over £600 million is also now being spent on social care for asylum seeking children, with £287.2 million of this being spent on children who remain with their families and £322.6 million being spent on unaccompanied children. Prior to 2022-23, local councils did not separately record spending on unaccompanied children, with this spending being wrapped up in overall spending on social care for unaccompanied children, whether they be asylum seekers or not. Since being recorded as a separate category, spending on social care for unaccompanied children by councils has increased by 32 per cent.

Social care for asylum seekers is separate to Home Office asylum support such as hotels, dispersal housing, meals, and subsistence payments. It can include practical support such as interpretation and language services, and help accessing health, housing, education and legal services. Where asylum-seeking children are taken into care, it also includes the cost of accommodation and care placements.

The councils spending the most on social care for asylum seekers in 2024-25 were Kent, with costs of £41.6 million; Hampshire, with costs of £23.9 million; and Manchester, with costs of £23.2 million. The councils with the largest increase in social care spending for asylum seekers since 2019-20 were Kent, which saw costs quadruple from £9.9 million to £41.6 million; Hampshire, which saw costs increase from nothing to £23.4 million and Surrey, which saw costs increase from £1,243 to £22.6 million.

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Key findings

Directly reported asylum-related social care spending has more than doubled in real terms since 2019-20. Total real expenditure rose from £299 million in 2019-20 to £744 million in 2024-25, a 148 per cent increase.The largest increases occurred after 2021-22, driven by both increases in adult social care (ASC) for asylum seekers and the introduction of a new category of social care expenditure on unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) in 2022-23.Adult asylum support spending rose in real terms from £61 million in 2021-22 to £191 million in 2022-23, an increase of 211 per cent in a single year.UASC social care support, recorded for the first time under the RA313 children looked after category, added more than £240 million in real expenditure in 2022-23.Growth by category has been highly uneven:Adult asylum seeker support rose in real terms by 165 per cent between 2019-20 and 2024-25, from £51 million to £134 million.Children’s asylum social care increased in real terms by 15 per cent across the same period, from £249 million to £287 million.Between 2022-23 and 2024-25, UASC social care expenditure increased in real terms by 32 per cent, from £244 million to £323 million, and is now the single largest component of asylum-related social care spending in local authorities.Spending is highly concentrated among a small number of authorities. In 2024-25, the top ten spending local authorities accounted for 27 per cent of all combined asylum seeker social care expenditure.Kent alone spent £41.6 million on combined asylum seeker social care, almost double the second highest spending local authority. Kent’s expenditure was entirely recorded under the RA313 children looked after category, reflecting the high volume of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who first present at the Kent coast.Kent, Hampshire and Surrey saw the largest real terms increases in combined asylum seeker social care expenditure between 2019-20 and 2024-25.Kent’s expenditure rose by £31.6 million or 319 per cent.Hampshire had new expenditure on asylum seekers, rising from zero to £23.9 million by 2024-25.Surrey rose from £1,243 to £22.6 million or an increase of 1,820,536 per cent.Per household spending varies across local authorities, showing the uneven burden created by current arrangements.City of London households face the highest per capita cost at £400 per household in 2024-25, followed by Islington spending £133 per household on asylum seeker social care costs.The average social care spending on asylum seekers per household across all local authorities in 2024-25 was £34.

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Anne Strickland, researcher of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said:

“The escalating costs of providing social care for asylum seekers represents yet another ticking time bomb in town hall budgets, with local residents suffering the consequences.

“Taxpayers have watched on with dismay at the failure of successive governments to get a grip on this issue, knowing that they will inevitably end up picking up the tab.“With councils essentially helpless in the face of this ongoing crisis, it’s imperative that Whitehall urgently finds a way to stop the migration crisis.”

TPA spokespeople are available for live and pre-recorded broadcast interviews via 07795 084 113 (no texts)

Media contact:

Elliot Keck

Campaigns Director, TaxPayers’ Alliance
[email protected]
24-hour media hotline: 07795 084 113 (no texts)

Notes to editors:

Founded in 2004 by Matthew Elliott and Andrew Allum, the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) campaigns to reform taxes and public services, cut waste and speak up for British taxpayers. Find out more at www.taxpayersalliance.com.TaxPayers’ Alliance’s research council.Further information about this research can be found here, answering the following questions:What is asylum seeker social care spending? What does it cover?Why is spending on children’s social care so much higher than spending on adults’ social care?What are the eligibility criteria for asylum seekers to receive social care?What is the reason behind the significant variation between different local authorities?