Kent County Council in lone child refugees warning

The government has pledged to take in 20,000 Syrian refugees by 2020

Kent County Council has warned it will not be able to accept any unaccompanied children under the government's plans to resettle 20,000 refugees from Syria.

More than 960 asylum-seeker children are being cared for by the authority, up from 629 at the end of July. The year before there were just 238.

It said children's services were currently facing "enormous pressure".

Peter Oakford, cabinet member for specialist children's services, said the council had run out of foster beds.

The government has pledged to take in 20,000 Syrian refugees by 2020 and to extend funding for councils to "assist" with the costs of helping Syrian refugees.

Kent's response to the Syrian refugee crisis was discussed at a council meeting, where councillors heard the county was facing "a unique situation" because of the spiralling number of lone asylum-seeker children.

Council leader Paul Carter said he expected the government to make an announcement soon on a refugee dispersal system

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Oakford said he hoped that help to "alleviate the problem" in Kent would be forthcoming.

It would be "unfair" for the authority to take any more lone children through the Syrian refugee scheme "because we would have great problems trying to find them accommodation, schooling etc", he said.

"We can't find any foster beds at this moment within Kent.

"We're having to place young people outside of Kent, whilst still retaining responsibility and having to support these young people," he added.

Council leader Paul Carter earlier told council members that he expected a government announcement within the next 10 days on "a dispersal system and a funding package that will stimulate and encourage that dispersal system around the country".