Torbay Council says it faces huge costs on migrants

The Home Office said more than £21m in grant funding had been provided to local authorities to help them respond to challenges in their area

A council leader says the authority is facing "massive financial costs" caring for asylum seekers in a hotel.

Steve Darling from Torbay Council, said more than 20 asylum seekers initially assessed as adults by the Home Office were now claiming to be children.

That was "sucking up a significant resource" from services, he said.

The Home Office said there was "no alternative" to hotels for temporary accommodation" and age assessments were "challenging but vital".

The council said if an asylum seeker claimed to be a minor, they were required to be assessed, which can take up to 28 days to complete

"The significant cost is that we have had 21 individuals identifying themselves as under 18 and therefore children, even though they have been vetted by the Home Office and found to be adults," Mr Darling told BBC Sunday Politics South West.

"This is sucking up a significant resource from our children's services sector - it takes about 185 hours to process each of those individuals.

"Then it's the massive financial costs of assessments, approximately £1.25m over the next 10 months," he said.

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Cordelia Law, the council's Cabinet Member for Childrens' Services, has written to Home Secretary Suella Braverman asking for the hotel to be "stood down as soon as possible" and no other asylum hotels to be opened in the area.

Derek Thomas, Conservative MP for St Ives in Cornwall, told the programme there was "definitely room for improvement in how the government works with local authorities and communities right across the country".

He said: "The real problem here is that we've got enormous numbers of asylum seekers, many of them absolutely genuine who haven't yet been processed.

"So we will continue to see these kind of examples until we really get to grips with the very beginning of the process, when they arrive, getting them processed, getting them settled or returned."

A Home Office spokesperson said: "The rise in dangerous small boats crossings means housing asylums seekers is a significant challenge and we have no alternative to using hotels for temporary accommodation.

"We have always been clear that this is unacceptable and are in regular engagement with local authorities across the UK to help bring about a permanent resolution.

"More than £21m in grant funding has already been provided to local authorities to help them respond to challenges in their area."

The spokesperson said age assessments were "challenging but vital".

"Children are at risk when asylum seeking adults claim to be children, or children are wrongly treated as adults," the spokesperson said.

"Once in accommodation provided on behalf of the Home Office, those who claim to be under age, or continue to claim to be a child after initial assessment by the Home Office, can present to local authorities who will undertake assessments and treat the person as a child until a decision on their age is made.

"We are grateful for the work local authorities do and have put in place significant funding for each child in their care.

"We are also reforming how age assessments are done to make them more consistent and robust by using scientific measures, and creating a new National Age Assessment Board."