Calls for funds as refugee stats revealed

South Holland housed 162 refugees last year supported by the government, Home Office statistics state.

Of those, 158 were from Ukraine and four from Afghanistan.
The numbers also revealed that the area didn’t have a single person seeking asylum living in the area.
The official government statistics, which cover a year up to the end of June, do not cover those migrants for which local authorities are already responsible.
Since 2014, five people have been housed in South Holland via the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme. They were all homed in 2019.
The news comes as the leader of Lincolnshire County Council, Martin Hill told local democracy reporter Daniel Jaines, Lincolnshire has done “more than its bit” for migration and called on the government to be fairer about the numbers it allocates, and to increase funding to help councils tackle rising costs.
While South Holland didn’t host any asylum seekers last year, the county housed 500 in hotels and, Coun Hill says, had 1,500 Ukrainian refugees.
“We understand the government has a problem, but they should understand that Lincolnshire is doing more than its bit,” he said. “We are only one of two places in the country where we’re going to have these large [asylum] centres, (the former RAF Scampton north of Lincoln is being turned into temporary accommodation) and I think some account needs to be taken of that when you’re looking at the overall strain on our resources
“It’s technically quite a challenge financially and organisationally for us.”