Asylum seekers arriving in Essex get an £8,000 budget for social care, it has been revealed.

Essex County Council spent more than £15million social care for asylum seekers in one year, new data has shown.

Essex, which is one of the country's largest councils, was in the top ten local authorities with the highest combined asylum seeker support spending in 2024-25, according to the Taxpayers' Alliance. The support can include interpretation and language services, health, housing, education and legal services.

It's sparked anger from across the political spectrum, with concerns about a "broken system."

A spokesperson for Essex County Council said: "Essex County Council has legal obligations to support asylum seekers through providing social care services, which includes support for children, families and older people. This is set out in UK law, including the Care Act 2014, and the Children's Act 1989."

Stephen Robinson, Lib Dem leader of Chelmsford Council raised concerns about the Government not being on top of the problem.

He added: "If they were processing asylum claims quicker, there would be less of an issue because those that would be given settled status can settle into the community, get a job, pay tax, and those who don't get asylum would be deported, which is what should happen. The Labour Government's failure has led to an impact on local councils and in some parts of the country it's had a bigger impact than others."

Sam Journet, leader of the Basildon Reform UK Party insisted Essex residents should not fit the bill for "an international and national crisis."

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He said: "Labour needs to step up and provide additional funding to the authority because this was a decision they decided to make, and not one the residents of Essex made"

As of September last year, there were about 1,835 asylum seekers in Essex. This means the spend per asylum seeker would work out at £8,174, but exact data on how many of them get the money is unclear. Not all asylum seekers would receive social care from the local councils, and that social care fees are naturally higher than normal cost of living.

Gavin Callaghan, Labour leader of Basildon Council said it's a matter for Essex County Council.

Essex County Council said it has "legal obligations to support asylum seekers through providing social care services."

A Government spokesperson added: "This government has reduced asylum support costs by nearly a billion since the general election and the Home Secretary is taking tough action to fix our broken immigration system — removing incentives that draw people here illegally, scaling up removals, and revoking the legal duty to provide asylum-seeker support.

"The Government is overhauling the broken funding system we inherited and has made almost £78 billion available to councils next year, so that the most deprived communities benefit."