A call from Reform UK councillors in West Sussex for the county council to withdraw from all voluntary refugee resettlement schemes has been voted down.
The motion was tabled by group leader Tim Charters (Southgate & Gossops Green) during a meeting on Friday (October 16), and seconded by Callum Johnson (Ref, Northgate & West Green).
The authority currently participates in four voluntary schemes – the United Kingdom Resettlement Scheme, the Afghan Resettlement Programme, the Homes for Ukraine Scheme, and the Hong Kong British National (Overseas) Visa Scheme.
The funding for all four is fully covered by the Home Office, while all district and borough councils receive funding from the Local Authority Housing Fund.
But it was the cost of caring for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children which was highlighted by Mr Johnson.
The lack of funding has placed £5.1million of pressure on the council’s already stretched finances – something the authority has raised with the government.
Jane Davey, cabinet member for finance, told the meeting that other authorities which had withdrawn from voluntary resettlement schemes became ‘financially disadvantaged’ when refugees moved to their area anyway.
The motion also stated that the county could not accommodate any further asylum seekers or refugees, due to severe shortages in housing stock, school places, GP access, SEND capacity, and adult social care resources.
Ms Davey said there were already high pressures on those areas but, when it came to social care and SEND, this was down to system changes and high levels of complex need. She added that there was ‘no evidence’ to suggest that large numbers of refugees were presenting with special needs and disabilities.
Before the debate began, chair of the council Donna Johnson warned councillors to ‘avoid language which could potentially inflame tensions or deepen divisions within our communities’.
It was a warning all councillors abided by – but feelings still ran high throughout the debate.
While acknowledging the ongoing pressures on public services, Katie Thornton (Green, Worthing East) said the council needed to be careful not to turn frustration about lack of affordable housing into a ‘false and divisive debate that sets groups against one another’.
She added that the pressures would ‘not be solved by taking away the rights of people least responsible for them’.
Ricky Borrett (Ref, Littlehampton Town) referred to refugees as ‘queue jumpers’ and said ‘the majority’ of people in his area didn’t care if the Afghan Resettlement Programme was paid for by the government – ‘they don’t want money spent on foreign citizens being housed while British people are being told to wait on a list for years’.
Henna Chowdhury (Lab, Tarring) said financial responsibility ‘must never come at the expense of our humanity.
She added: “We must not reduce every financial challenge to immigration. Let us challenge inadequate funding not vulnerable people. Let us build bridges, not divisions. We can balance our books without abandoning our values.”
Government data shows that, as of the end of June, 740 asylum-seekers were receiving support in West Sussex – 326 in Mid Sussex, 301 in Crawley, 86 in Chichester, 19 in Worthing, four in Horsham, three in Arun and one in Adur.
At the end of September, the council was supporting 139 asylum-seeking children, compared to 84 in May, 2025.
Some 290 former asylum-seeking children were being supported as care leavers – 144 in council-funded accommodation and 146 receiving support from the Leaving Care Service without council-funded accommodation.
A recorded vote was called for and the motion was lost by 43 votes to 20.
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