Stoke-on-Trent could have to find 200 school places for asylum seekers

Council leader Abi Brown says she will have more meetings with the immigration minister

Stoke-on-Trent might have to find school places for up 200 extra children, because of an influx of asylum seekers.

The city council leader, Abi Brown, met immigration minister Robert Jenrick on Tuesday to raise concerns after two hotels were identified as being suitable for the families.

She said she expected up to 400 people to be housed in total, of all ages.

Local schools had already found places for 50 children, she said.

The leader of the Conservative-run local authority said she was given no assurances from Mr Jenrick about extra funding, but a commitment had been made for further meetings.

She said: "We've got quite a large concentration of asylum seekers here already in the city and these two hotels are adding additional pressure on top of that."

That includes obligations on schools, which she said did not have "a lot of spare capacity" and would have to take in distressed children with additional needs.

Ms Brown has also previously cited pressure on healthcare services in the area.

Second hotel

Last month, the council lost a bid to extend a High Court injunction stopping asylum seekers from being housed in a hotel.

Since then it has emerged Serco, which holds the government contract for dispersing asylum seekers, had done a deal to use a second hotel.

In October, before the contracts with the hotels were signed, the local authority said there were already about 800 asylum seekers in the city.

Despite councillors' concerns, Ms Brown said plans to use hotels had "gone ahead anyway" and the focus was now on how these people, many fleeing terrible situations, could be best supported.

She also urged compassion for those seeking refuge in the city and accepted that Stoke-on-Trent had historically been "an asylum dispersal area" because of its low cost of housing.