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

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.

"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."

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.

“It is positive to see that places which had been overlooked in previous rounds have been included on the strength of their previous bids and that culture is given the extra recognition it deserves in strengthening pride-in-place."

“Levelling up has great potential to transform people’s lives and livelihoods, with councils best placed to make this happen."

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.

One in 10 councils surveyed had a councillor who had stepped down in their authority since May 2021 due to the requirement for them to attend council meetings in-person.