No financial incentive for council when asylum seekers placed in Rochdale

Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk recently revealed there are more asylum seekers being placed in Rochdale than in the whole of the South East region.

He said: "The system at the moment is a shambles and ministers need to explain why David Cameron’s constituency takes no asylum seekers and a wildly disproportionate number are placed in Rochdale.”

Rochdale Online asked Rochdale Council if there was any financial incentive to the Council in asylum seekers being placed in Rochdale, the council said not.

Mark Widdup, Director of Economy and Environment, said: “The contract for the housing and transportation of asylum seekers was awarded to SERCO two years ago. We do not receive any payment for asylum seekers housed within the borough."

We asked if the Council could refuse SERCO housing asylum seekers in Rochdale, and if so has it ever done so.

Mr Widdup said: "SERCO are required to take into account any local issues we raise, such as type or location of properties, when housing asylum seekers. In some circumstances, we have placed an embargo on the sourcing of properties if there will be a significant impact on services such as schools."

Questioned why such a disproportionately large number of asylum seekers are being placed in Rochdale in comparison to other areas, Mr Widdup added: “Two factors have allowed SERCO to expand the number of properties in the borough. Economic factors such as the spare room subsidy have created pockets of properties with high availability and low demand while private landlords have also seen the advantage of leasing their properties to SERCO in return for a guaranteed income.”

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/92869/more-asylum-seekers-in-rochdale-than-the-entire-south-east-of-england