Evidence of the costs of migration on advice services

The Local Government Association (LGA) has published a report on research it commissioned to review available evidence of the scale of recent population changes and the impact of those changes on local services.
 
The first half of the report is dedicated to the inadequacies of existing ways of measuring population and of estimating population changes. It then goes on to look at some of the impacts of migration and raises concerns about how these are funded.

Information and advice

Information and advice services are seen as absorbing a significant amount of the impact of migration.
 
"Whilst one-off projects and small targeted initiatives are sometimes costed, pressures on mainstream services such as housing, education, information and advice services and measures to promote cohesion are, of necessity in the context of finite budgets, being absorbed by stretching other budgets, and therefore the financial impact is hidden."
 
The report makes a number of recommendations that presumably are aimed at central government, but that should also be of interest to other funders of public services including the Legal Services Commission.
 
Eg "there should be some recognition of the short-term impact of high or rapid levels of migration, independent of any net impact on population. One possibility is to include an allowance for migration in grant formulae which could be likened to the current judgemental allowance for population 'sparsity'. This could go some way to meet the extra costs experienced by those areas which are consistently the focus of migration"

Evidence

The evidence for the report comes from over 100 responses to a survey sent to all local authorities. Advice services were the first point of contact with migrants for some of the councils and agencies responding to the survey. The following issues were highlighted:

• There is widespread confusion about entitlements both among migrants and those who try to help them, with a general need for better advice, information and guidance (Audit Commission).
• Councils are reporting increased use of one-stop shop services and other advice services.
• Voluntary sector advice agencies are also recording increases in migrants with problems which were often complex and difficult to resolve, typically linked with employment and accommodation.
• Information centres are frequently dealing with more than one issue from one visitor, resulting in lengthy visits. In some cases this reduces the standard and availability of the service to others.

 
Full report:
estimating the scale and impacts of migration at the local level