News

The LGA's latest survey of councillors' experiences show that around one fifth have received a death threat or threat of violence in their role, and nearly three-quarters have received abuse or intimidation in the last year

A new 'snapshot' survey by the LGA reveals that councils are calling for the extension of the 'move-on' period, the time between an asylum seeker receiving a decision on their application and having to leave Home Office funded accommodation, to ease the financial impact on Local Authorities.

The LGA has joined forces with the Electoral Commission and the Jo Cox Foundation to call for no abuse towards candidates at this set of local elections.

“Councils want to work with government on developing a better system for accommodating and supporting asylum seekers."

"Councils work incredibly hard to support asylum and resettlement and have helped communities welcome around 200,000 Ukrainian refugees since the start of the war two years ago."

We are pleased that locally elected representatives will have dedicated police support for security matters for the first time. This is something we have long called for.

According to Home Office data, there were around 90,000 decisions on older cases forecasted to be made before the end of December 2023. The pace and scale of the Home Office’s decision-making means that large numbers of people are already and will continue to turn to councils for support.

Responding to the immigration minister Robert Jenrick’s announcement that fifty hotels will be closed to asylum seekers by January, Cllr Shaun Davies, Chair of the Local Government Association said: “Councils have a proud history of supporting humanitarian efforts and continue to work hard to protect and support refugees and help deliver a wide range of government asylum and resettlement schemes. Councils share the government’s ambitions to end hotel use for asylum seekers. “Hotel closures have a direct impact on councils and local government wants to play an active role in working with

We have raised concerns about councils being asked to commit to numbers of arrivals or propose a cap. It might be difficult for councils to predict potential arrival numbers across both asylum and resettlement and therefore their capacity to support new arrivals and the additional housing needed.

The number of local councillors who have reported feeling at risk in their role due to rising levels of abuse and intimidation has increased to a new high in the last year.