Written evidence submitted by The Local Government Association (AAC0084)

1.            About the Local Government Association (LGA)

• The LGA is the National Voice of Local Government. We’re on the side of councils: promoting their work, supporting them to improve and helping them make a difference to people, places and the planet.

• We aim to be the best membership organisation we can be. As the national membership body for local authorities, we provide the bridge between central and local government and we help councils deliver the best services to their local communities.

• For further information on this submission, please contact:

2.            Asylum accommodation and support: key issues and developments

• In response to the recent report from the National Audit Office, the LGA flagged that councils want to work with government on developing a better system for accommodating and supporting asylum seekers. Given increased demand and the acute shortage of housing across the country, this requires a national, regional and local approach to solving pressing housing needs across all schemes that welcome new arrivals to the UK.[1] Some of the key ongoing issues and developments that require this joint approach are outlined below:

2.1. Asylum dispersal

• Councils have a proud history of supporting the wide range of asylum and resettlement programmes. Whilst pressures in councils with higher numbers of asylum seekers remain acute and there is more work to be done in moving to new and particularly more rural areas, there has been in expansion of both dispersal accommodation and participating councils. Since April 2022, an additional 106 councils are accommodating asylum seekers, bringing the total to 282 councils with housing responsibilities across the UK.

• We have also worked with the Home Office to ensure procurement will be paused in areas above their targets as part of this year’s regional and devolved administrations’ plans for asylum accommodation and the existing 1:200 ratio will be upheld so there should not be more asylum seekers than 0.5% local population.

• We have also worked with the Home Office has developed a more placed based process for allocating new bed space targets under regional plans, developed in partnership with local government. The new index includes weighting on homelessness, deprivation and resettlement, as opposed to being mainly driven by cost as previously was the case.

• We also welcomed plans in England to temporarily exempt houses procured by Home Office contractors from Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licensing requirements[2] and for reforms to reforms to social housing allocations for people without a connection to the UK[3] were withdrawn following concern from the sector and other partners.

• However, government data shows how there is still a long way to go regarding equitable distribution, with, for example, 10 local authorities hosting 22 per cent of supported asylum seekers.[4] According to the latest publicly available data from December 2024:[5]

• The North West and North East had the highest number of asylum seekers relative to their population, of over 26 asylum seekers for every 10,000 inhabitants.

• Glasgow was the local authority with the largest number of asylum seekers in relation to its population (4,075 or 64 per 10,000 residents)

• The South East and South West had the lowest relative number of 7.4 for every 10,000 inhabitants in both regions.

• Local government leadership remains committed to widening dispersal and achieving shared ambitions for a more equitable approach. Councils would welcome reducing disproportionate pressures on the areas with high numbers by Government, and have suggested some areas of focus to widen dispersal including:

• Ensuring Home Office providers stick to agreed regional asylum accommodation plans that expand the dispersal of asylum seekers across the UK.

• Enabling transparency on price points under the current contracts to develop a shared understanding of barriers to procurement in new, more expensive areas.

• Accelerating new models for rural dispersal, with the current asylum system having a very urban focus, and including the additional support services that will be needed within rural settings.

• Supporting engagement with councils and communities in advance of procurement

• Ensuring a more flexible Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF). Given housing supply pressures, further rounds could enable councils to acquire empty properties for asylum seekers as well as resettlement cohorts. There needs to be further consideration of how such funding opportunities can be extended to the devolved nations (further information on housing supply challenges below).

• Stressing the need for ensuring continuity of or increasing the current asylum funding for councils, with earlier confirmation to aid planning. On the latter, councils continue to flag challenges with funding being provided for new bedspaces in asylum, as opposed to being provided for the impact on local services.

2.2. Contingency Accommodation

•                                 As of September 2024, out of 106,200 supported asylum seekers being housed in the UK, 65,300 were living in dispersal accommodation and 40,100 were still living in initial or contingency accommodation which can include hotels[6]. London had 22.6 asylum seekers for every 10,000 inhabitants largely due to the presence of asylum hotels. The LGA has stressed that any new sites, including hotels, need to open in areas that are not already facing unsustainable pressures due to asylum and resettlement by being in line with regionally agreed plans. 

• Hotels have had to open or reopen, due to pressures on arrival numbers from Autumn 2024. Whilst hotel reopening has been at a much smaller scale than in 2022/3, the LGA has continued to highlight that there must be advance engagement with councils before hotels open or close must happen in practice so councils and local partners can plan ahead. Councils will know their local areas and if a hotel is not appropriate, then councils could suggest an alternative, even if this means any new site potentially being the ‘least worst’ option.

• We have welcomed joint work on an engagement process on asylum hotel opening that allows time for this to happen. We would welcome further work on hotel exit, on shared learning on the impact of and engagement on hotel opening and on joint work on different approaches that avoid the use of hotels given the impacts on asylum seekers and communities.

2.3 Supporting asylum seekers

• Councils currently receive per capita funding for each asylum new bed space (£750 per asylum seeker in all accommodation types and £3,500 for new occupied dispersed bedspaces in Q1 2024/5, and £3,750 in the following quarters). Wider funding would recognise impacts on local services and councils’ wider role in supporting integration of all asylum seekers in their communities, and effective engagement to support social cohesion. Ultimately, councils would like to see a multi-year ‘place based’ funding across all refugee and asylum routes as part of multi-year funding for local government.

• Councils also continue to flag safeguarding concerns, particularly in hotels, with the need for an urgent and joint focus on understanding shared responsibilities for protecting and supporting all arrivals. There is developing joint work is underway to provide clarity on safeguarding roles and responsibilities, safeguarding processes including referral processes into councils, steps for escalation, training of staff, and assurance. Further conversations are also needed around data-sharing requirements across the asylum estate.

2.4. Move on from asylum accommodation

• The LGA and local government has welcomed the temporary extension for those receiving an asylum decision in asylum accommodation and having to leave asylum accommodation from 28 to 56 days. This is in line with the Homelessness Reduction Act and reflects risks around homelessness, destitution and social cohesion.[7] A LGA research report shows that 90 per cent of councils surveyed across the UK identified this as the key change needed to the current ‘move on’ or ‘grace period’.[8]

• We would welcome co-design with Government on how the temporary change is evaluated and ensuring clear communication from government on the roles and responsibilities under the new process for both councils and those receiving a decision on their asylum claim given homelessness and destitution risks.[9]

• Councils are raising concerns of the impact of the parallel roll out of electronic visas at the same time as the temporary extension as this is causing delays in people being able to move on within the new timeline. There are also ongoing issues with providers notifying councils of decisions within agreed timelines and with the sharing contact of details of those receiving a decision. Combined with current pressures on access to affordable accommodation supply, all of these will impact on councils’ support during the current extension and on any evaluation.

• Councils have also called for ongoing improvements to data flow to aid local planning and funding to councils for their role in supporting move on. Joint work is also required to ensure that ‘Asylum Move On Liaison Officers’ (AMLOs) can also meet the needs of individual councils, as well as Home Office priorities.

• Co-design with the devolved nations across all programmes is also crucial to ensure the differing context and statutory frameworks in Wales and Scotland are accounted for, and that any required funding is made available across the UK.

• We welcome that decisions for children and young people are now being prioritised following requests from the sector, with those with acute vulnerabilities or safeguarding concerns ‘fast tracked’.

2.5. Developments in Central / Local engagement

• The LGA has long called for cross-system oversight and strategic level engagement across central and local government on resettlement and asylum accommodation and support that builds on and uses local government’s expertise and experience.

• Whilst challenges in engagement locally remain, building on ongoing engagement at officer level via the existing Asylum and Resettlement Councils Senior Engagement Group, the new Asylum and Resettlement Ministerial and Local Government Forum should enable political leadership from across the UK raise key current issues with Ministers at a national level in the MHCLG and the Home Office and find joint solutions to the issues flagged in this submission.

• As well as developing Devolved Administration and regional governance arrangements, the Home Office, in partnership with the LGA, WLGA, COSLA, and SMPs, is also in the process of establishing three officer-level working groups involving local government representatives and other departments that will look in more depth and breadth on current issues and solutions, reporting to the above. These will cover the below, reflecting the key current issues for councils: achieving full dispersal, supporting people to move on from asylum accommodation as they receive their asylum status, and future accommodation and support models.

• We are keen to work with government to develop a shared understanding on the new Bill and exploring any the potential impact on councils’ roles and responsibilities or the impact on communities of the need for increased use of inadmissibility or detention.

2.6. A shared approach to cohesion

• Councils leading towns, cities and counties across the country used and are using their community leadership role to bring communities together in the aftermath of the violence following the tragic incident in Southport over the summer.[10] Councils are undertaking community impact assessments and engaging with communities on the causes of the riots to inform their plans moving forwards, with a key role for the LGA to be funded to share that learning.

• Linked to the engagement points above, local government needs to be a valued partner of central government in recovering from the riots, learning from them and preventing them occurring again. As above, ongoing and expanded council funding for asylum seekers and ensuring advance engagement on accommodation procurement could effectively support local capacity to integrate asylum seekers, foster welcoming communities and reduce risks of violence. We are keen to work with the Government on how to use local information and intelligence to assess any cohesion risks that should inform decisions on procurement.

2.7. The future of asylum accommodation and support

• The Government has indicated a clear wish to explore reform and redesign of the current asylum system in the run up to the end date of current contracts in 2029 and a break clause from 2026. Whilst there is a range of views on a potential more active role for local government in asylum accommodation, any future joint work must be underpinned by sustainable funding, supporting the move to greater equity, and local government being seen as an equal partner.

• The LGA has flagged that the following parameters should be in place for any pilots introduced to test new approaches to asylum accommodation and support where councils play a more active role, including:

• Effective engagement and co-design with local government and their local partners

• Sufficient and sustainable funding and incentives.

• Participation in pilots to remain voluntary.

• Supporting Equity with any new accommodation to form part of regional and devolved administration asylum accommodation plans.

• A parallel focus on improving the current system, including the asylum wraparound support alongside accommodation procurement and management.

• Clear, shared understanding of risks and opportunities in councils playing a more direct role

• Looking at changes to both provision and procurement of accommodation and wraparound support, ensuring support is in place before any new accommodation is opened

• recognising the range of pressures facing councils as part of a place-based approach, including the wider context of housing and homelessness pressures, given unsustainable challenges on affordable housing access, homelessness and street homelessness risks, with further detail in section 4 and 5 below.

• In order for any pilot to be successful, the LGA has also flagged:

• The need to focus any testing in on areas with suitable properties, including properties that could be used flexibly across the year to reflect fluctuations in arrival numbers, and ideally in areas where people can access affordable accommodation after receiving a decision.

• Enabling councils to provide or commission the community and voluntary sector to provide support for integration and wellbeing pre and post decision.

• The need to ensure housing standards are adhered to.

• The importance of Strategic Migration Partnerships in both testing, developing and operating any future, more devolved system.

3.            Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC)

• Children can be placed in adult asylum accommodation due to incorrect age assessments. These children, when identified, then need to be brought into local authority care to ensure they are appropriately safeguarded. However, these children do not then count towards a council’s assigned number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children that they are expected to accept through the NTS. This means that some councils have had to find upwards of 20 additional homes for UASC in addition to those they are asked to accept through the NTS, placing yet further pressures on placement, funding, workforce and support capacity. Government must ensure that unaccompanied children placed by the Home Office into adult hotels and subsequently identified by councils count towards a local area’s NTS allocation, to help manage local system capacity.

• Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) are disproportionately placed in independent and semi-independent settings. Statistics published in March 2023 identified that 23 per cent of 16 to 17 year old looked-after children are UASC, however they make up 42 per cent of those in independent living and 45 per cent of those in semi-independent accommodation. 69 per cent of UASC aged 16 to 17 live in independent or semi-independent accommodation, compared to 27 per cent of non-UASC.

• Solutions for the challenges around councils’ support for lone asylum seeking children and care leavers include Joint work on ensuring rapid transfers and a more equitable approach within the National Transfer Scheme. Councils are also keen to have Full funding of support and accommodation for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and former UAS care leavers (up to the age of 25), which reflects actual costs on local authorities

• Councils are keen to work with government on ensuring age assessments at port are as strong as possible, Councils who experience subsequent age assessment challenges or identify children in adult accommodation after being mis-age-assessed at port, are appropriately supported. Councils must also be routinely notified by Home Office providers when someone claims to be a child in adult accommodation. This will ensure that children are appropriately safeguarded, and that adults are not placed in accommodation with unrelated children. This includes joint work on the ongoing challenges around age assessment of UASC given it will remain an inexact process, with even ‘biological methods’ such as dental checks or x-rays only offering a minimum age and a broad range of possible ages.

4.            A placed-based approach

• The LGA is keen to work with the Government to improve join-up across asylum and resettlement programmes in a way that recognises cumulative impacts on councils. Each programme is led by different government departments and has a range of different funding, data, engagement, and support and accommodation requirements, even if individuals have similar needs for local services. Although the Government has agreed to work towards a more placed-based approach to asylum and resettlement, a siloed approach to programmes often results in a range of schemes being concentrated in specific locations.

• We are keen to see a cross-system approach, underpinned by regular strategic level engagement between relevant Ministers and local government leadership across the UK, on both the current issues flagged above and on longer-term political sensitive issues, such as access to employment and housing.

• A more joined-up approach across central and local government would include:

• Closer engagement with local government on development and delivery

• Greater alignment and greater equity across schemes and across funding

• Recognition of cumulative impacts across schemes, with all local impacts and different legislative frameworks across the UK taken into account

• A more joined up approach on the integration and support of all new arrivals

• Links made to cross-central and local government work on housing, support for lone asylum seeking children and cohesion

5.            LGA asks on housing and homelessness pressures

• Given wider housing pressures, asylum and resettlement also affects all councils’ capacity to source accommodation both for new arrivals and for all those in housing need in their local area. Having access secure and permanent housing is key to enabling those seeking asylum to properly integrate and feel settled.

• We have suggested joint work across local and central government to explore how to increase the supply of sufficient and appropriate accommodation for all groups of new arrivals, both given current housing pressures and in the context of the proposed consultation on reforms to social housing allocations. This approach to increasing housing supply should build on learning from the LAHF which has enabled councils to increase their social housing stock to accommodate Afghans, Ukrainians and the wider homelessness population.

• Building more genuinely affordable homes remains the best way provide homes to rent, reduce homelessness and tackle council housing waiting lists in the long term. We are calling on the Government to urgently implement our six-point plan to give councils the powers.

• We are pleased the Government is providing additional financial support to councils to tackle homelessness. However, councils are spending more than £1.74 billion to support the over 117,000 households in temporary accommodation in 2024.

• We are disappointed the Government did not use the Autumn Budget to address the temporary accommodation subsidy gap, currently stuck at 2011 levels, as this is driving ever higher-spend on temporary accommodation and limiting the resources available for homelessness prevention.

• Over the past five years, frozen Local Housing Allowance rates have left councils to pick up more than £700 million in costs that they are unable to claim back from Government. This continues to threaten their financial viability and hamper efforts to reduce homelessness.

• Homeless households placed in temporary accommodation are able to claim housing benefit to go towards their housing costs. Councils pay the cost of that housing benefit upfront and are paid back by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). While households receive the full housing benefit they are entitled to, the amount councils can claim back is currently capped to 90 per cent of Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates from back in 2011. These rates have massively failed to keep pace with rising rental prices and the increased demand for temporary accommodation. This means that if the cost of the housing benefit claim is higher than those rates, the local authority has to pick up the cost.

• The LGA is calling on the Government to uprate temporary accommodation subsidy rates to 90 per cent of 2024 LHA rates. It is also calling for the Government to reconsider its decision to keep LHA rates frozen for other types of accommodation until at least April 2026 to protect them from ongoing spiralling homelessness costs.

• We are also calling on the Government to also urgently implement a cross-government homelessness prevention strategy which address the drivers of homelessness, including a lack of genuinely affordable homes, to tackle the rising tide of people presenting to councils as homeless. It is essential that local government’s experience and expertise is recognised in the development of a new strategy.   

Feb 2025