Council chiefs say they are facing a financial shortfall of at least £1.5m next year for supporting young asylum seeker children who have turned 18 but remain the responsibility of the authority.

KCC says the number of care leavers it continues to be responsible for is expected to rise to 940 by the end of next year from about 800 this year.

The increase is partly linked to the arrival of several hundred asylum seeker children in recent years, which came to a head in 2015. That led to the government introducing a dispersal scheme to ease the pressure on councils like Kent.

Children were allocated to other authorities to be looked after but recently the scheme has stalled, with councils less willing to participate.

The number of child asylum seekers has reduced significantly and in 2018 fell to 171, the lowest figure for five years.

KCC says government funding for care leavers falls short of what is required and the pressure on its budget has increased because of new legislation.

The government now requires councils to offer all leavers personal support from advisers up to the age of 25 - and to date, all those in Kent aged 21 or over have elected to do so.

A report due to be discussed by county councillors says there could be a case for re-activating the dispersal scheme for asylum children to ease the pressure on Kent.

It states: “Although there was some success with this scheme when first implemented...this programme has since stalled and the number of under 18 unaccompanied child asylum seekers in Kent is starting to rise.”

On funding, the report says that KCC received £6.9m from the government but its actual costs was £8.4m.

Cllr Roger Gough, cabinet member for children’s services, said the council was “incurring very significant costs” and ministers needed to act.

He said: “This has a major knock-on effect not just for us but across the entire system of support. What came in in 2016 was the National Transfer Scheme, under which councils like ours could ask others to take on other children and given support elsewhere. That has undoubtedly stalled as of late.”