Funding provided by the Scottish Government to Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC): FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
Information requested
1. Total funding provided or allocated by the Scottish Government for Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC) in the last three years.
2. Breakdown of how this funding is distributed to local authorities.
Response
As you have requested, I attach an Excel spreadsheet which includes total funding provided or allocated by the Scottish Government in the 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26 financial years. As I explain below, funding has not been distributed to local authorities specifically for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children during the last three years, so no information is being provided in response to question two.
As you may well be aware, asylum is a reserved issue, and so the funding which is provided to local authorities, specifically in relation to their responsibilities for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, comes from the UK Government. Information about that funding can be found here.
Local authorities are independent corporate bodies with their own powers and responsibilities, and are entirely separate from the Scottish Government. The Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. The vast majority of Scottish Government funding to local authorities is therefore provided by means of a block grant. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including on unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, on the basis of local needs and priorities.
The Scottish Government has provided funding for specific purposes relating to unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26. Most of this funding relates to the Scottish Government's duty, under section 11 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015, to enable an Independent Child Trafficking Guardian to be appointed for any child who is or may be a victim of trafficking,or who is vulnerable to becoming a victim of that offence. The Guardianship Scotland service, which is jointly run by Aberlour and the Scottish Refugee Council, received £1.2m in 2023-24, £1.2m in 2024-25, and £2.2m in 2025-26. This funding provides a nationwide service, and is therefore not distributed to local authorities.
The Scottish Government has also funded age assessment training for local authority staff who need to conduct age assessments to determine whether unaccompanied asylum-seekers are children or adults. In the last three years, we have funded two different organisations a total of £9,440 in 2023-24, £18,480 in 2024-25, and £9,216 in 2025-26. This funding is allocated to the training providers, and so again, is not distributed to local authorities.
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Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Correspondence Unit
Email: contactus@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG