EMC has produced an analysis of local authority costs and pressures incurred in support of Former Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Child (UASC) Care Leavers in the East Midlands. The report confirms the actual costs incurred by councils in the East Midlands in providing Leaving Care services to former UASC aged 18-24, and forms a companion paper to our report in 2017 establishing the costs to Local Authorities in providing care to UASC (under 18s).

This research demonstrates a substantial shortfall in former UASC care leaver funding. The average cost to local authorities in providing Leaving Care services to former UASC was found to be £16,602 per former UASC care leaver per year. With a weighted average Home Office reimbursement per former UASC care leaver of £6,117 per annum, a current funding shortfall of £10,485 per former UASC care leaver per year has been identified. In other words, present Home Office funding covers 37% of local authority Leaving Care costs on average.

The report also includes future population modelling that incorporates the estimated impact of the new Leaving Care duties under the Children & Social Work Act 2017, and projects a growth in the former UASC care leaver cohort of between 43% and 146% over 5 years across the region. When the shortfall for unaccompanied asylum seeking children in care is factored in, there is a predicted funding gap to the region of between £11m – £15m by 2024.

LA former UASC care leaver services costs and pressures in the East Mids