The amount of funding given awarded to Croydon Council to support unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC) has left people "astonished," but not in a good way.

The council was awarded £370,000 by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, which is slightly less than 2 per cent of the total of £19million handed out.

Leader of the council, Councillor Tony Newman, said the amount they have received was not fair.

“We are absolutely astonished and very disappointed by Croydon’s allocation from the Government," he said.

"We look after almost 10 per cent of the unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in the UK, yet are getting less than two per cent of funding.

"The funding formula they have applied appears to be very basic and in no way does it represent a fair way of reflecting the burden faced by local authorities."

“Croydon is extremely proud of its long track record in welcoming and caring for these vulnerable young people," Mr Newman said.

"But if like us, the Government truly wants them to integrate and thrive in our local communities, it needs to step up and provide the funding for councils to support them.

"Croydon taxpayers simply cannot be expected to foot the bill for over £3m annually in direct costs of being a gateway borough when this is a national issue.

”We welcome the Government’s decision to make this funding available for these young people but Croydon’s allocation is completely unacceptable. As these allocations are at draft stage we are asking them to re-consider.”