EXCLUSIVE

by Gareth Davies

gareth.davies@essnmedia.co.uk

A staggering £1 million a year is being spent on 120 asylum seekers who have been refused permission to stay in the country but are still living in Croydon.

Some have not been deported years after applications to remain in Britain were rejected, and until they are the council is continuing to support them.

Because they have been refused asylum they cannot work, so the council gives them benefits and somewhere to live.

The asylum seekers have all come to Croydon, unaccompanied by an adult, when under the age of 18.

The council is reimbursed for looking after them until they are 18 but after that it gets no money at all, forcing taxpayers to foot the bill.

The number of people in this situation has tripled in just two years, with the cost of looking after them quadrupling from £250,000 in 2007 to an estimated £1 million for 2009.

The council argues it has a statutory obligation to make sure this group of vulnerable people do not end up on the street, and says the Home Office is not doing enough to deport them.

However, the UK Border Agency says the council is not legally obliged to do so, and that efforts are being made to ensure some are sent home, while others are appealing or cheating the system.

More cases are likely in the future as a result of the Government's controversial decision to make Croydon the only place in the UK people can claim asylum.

Richard Ottaway, MP for Croydon South, believe the latest revelation makes a mockery of the Government's claim the change in policy will have a minimal impact on Croydon.

"I am both surprised and concerned by these figures," he said.

"They illustrate the problem Croydon is facing by becoming the country's only walk-in asylum centre.

"It is inevitable the numbers of asylum seekers will increase, and it is equally likely the number of rejections will rise, meaning more people will fall into this category.

"The Government needs to explain why they have failed to deport these people, and why the taxpayer is counting the cost."

A spokesman for the council revealed the expense is likely to increase as other young asylum seekers are awaiting a decision.

The head of the UK Border Agency's local immigration team in Croydon, Frances Beasley, says that people with no right to remain in Britain are "expected to return voluntarily" but will be removed if they don't.

She added: "Of the cases that the council is assisting, each one is different.

"Each case can take a different amount of time to finalise, depending on whether there are outstanding appeals or travel documents to be processed for removal."