£2.5m taxpayer bill to rehome Syrian child refugees in CoventryTaxpayers face a bill of £2.5m to rehome Syrian refugee children in Coventry.
The figures emerged in a Coventry City Council report looking at the financial impact of accommodating unaccompanied child refugees fleeing the war-torn Middle East .
Council officers predict Coventry will take an estimated 53 children - partly as a result of the dismantlement of the ‘Calais Jungle’ refugee camp on the French border.
Numbers in the report show the council receives grants of £37,000 per child from central government but is left with costs of around £10,000 per child - which will cost the local authority £530,000.
However, the actual figure could be much higher with the council acknowledging that a shortage in foster carers means more expensive placements are sometimes required - such as residential care homes that can cost in excess of £150,000-a-year per child.
According to the council’s estimates, the eventual total taxpayer bill for rehousing Syrian children in Coventry alone will be just short of £2.5m.
Coventry has already re-homed 25 unaccompanied Syrian refugee children, out of a total of 60 who have been allowed into the country so far. Officials now predict the city will eventually need to take a further 28 in order to meet its responsibilities under the government’s resettlement scheme.
Coventry has taken in more Syrian refugees than any other UK city, with almost 200 staying in the city out of an estimated 1,600 to have arrived in the country.
The city has pledged to be a ‘City of Sanctuary’ for refugees and, despite the mounting costs, the council appears as if it will stick to that pledge.