THE cost of providing support and housing for five teenage asylum seekers in East Lothian over the last three years has been 10 times the amount provided by the UK Government.

The under-18s, all described as “spontaneous arrivals”, sought help in the county after escaping traumatic experiences and required a range of care services.

However, a meeting of East Lothian Council’s cabinet was told that the Home Office grant for caring for youngsters came nowhere near covering the costs.

Chief social worker Judith Tait said that the cost to the council of providing housing support for the five young people between August 2017 and December 2019 had been £355,000 – to date the Home Office has reimbursed the local authority £37,000.

She said the Home Office offered £114 a day for young people who arrive outwith its formal resettlement schemes and £28.57 for over-18s who are placed in bed and breakfast or supported accommodation.

“The funding available is not enough to met the needs – it is not meeting the range of services needed,” said the chief social worker.

“In the case of over-18s, the £28.57 payment is not fit for purpose.”

Cabinet members were told that since August 2017, five refugees had arrived in East Lothian – all under 18 and all having arrived in the county through unofficial means.

And they were told that while Home Office funding was for housing support, it did not cover the staffing requirements for the youngsters who have intensive needs.

They were told one of the teenagers who arrived had lost their entire home before being trafficked.

Emma Clater, acting children’s services manager with the council, told them: “This young person had seen both their parents killed and their entire village wiped out before being passed through a succession of aunts and uncles and eventually being trafficked.

“They were living in a house with other trafficked young people forced to work on a cannabis farm when they escaped.”

She added of young refugees: “Often they arrive at a house, police station or service station in inappropriate dress for the weather and with very little language skills, which alerts the authorities. They are extremely traumatised by their experiences and need a range of support.”

Councillor Willie Innes, council leader, called for more to be done by the Home Office to meet the costs of supporting refugees. He said that leaving local authorities to pick up the bill could create division in communities.

Mr Innes said: “It creates a sense of animosity between people native to the area and people coming in who seem to be benefiting at their expense.”

And he highlighted the local authority’s history of providing homes for refugees, both as part of the recent Syrian re-homing programme and previous projects to home Bosnian refugees.

He said: “We have a proud history of stepping up to the mark when called on to do so in East Lothian.

“These people come with huge trauma and it is important they are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.”

A Home Office spokesperson said it had increased payment for local authorities for all children regardless of their age to £114 and the UK had provided protection for more than 41,000 vulnerable children since 2010.

They said: “The UK has a proud history of welcoming and supporting those in need of our protection, and we are grateful to local authorities across the country who are supporting vulnerable young asylum seekers.

“The Home Office provides a contribution to the costs incurred by local authorities in looking after unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) and former UASC care leavers. In May 2019, we announced a significant increase in the funding of their UASC support costs.”

East Lothian Council has provided homes for about 18 families – 70 refugees – from Syria since pledging to support up to seven families a year as part of a UK-wide scheme introduced five years ago.

In the early 1990s, the local authority helped resettle Bosnian refugees in the county, as well as Kosovan refugees later that decade.

The cabinet was asked to support the local authority being part of a new global resettlement scheme which is being launched by the UK Government to replace the scheme next month and will widen the areas where refugees can come from.

Members of the cabinet gave the move their backing.