£744m migrant social care bill

COUNCILS are spending £744million a year on social care for asylum seekers in what campaigners call a ticking time bomb for town hall budgets.

- BY JONATHAN WALKER

The soaring costs - including funds for interpreters and services to help asylum seekers obtain healthcare, housing, education and legal services - were revealed in a report by the TaxPayers' Alliance.

Anne Strickland, the pressure group's researcher, said: "Taxpayers have watched on with dismay at the failure of successive governments to get a grip on this issue, knowing that they will inevitably end up picking up the tab.

"With councils essentially helpless in the face of this ongoing crisis, it's imperative that Whitehall urgently finds a way to stop the migration crisis."