Nine councils have claimed the Government owes them £35m for looking after some of the most vulnerable children in the country.
The report claims the money is owed to the councils for a range of services involved in looking after unaccompanied children who arrive in the UK seeking asylum.
It claims only 5% of children who come into the country will be granted asylum, and planning a return to their home country has become an essential piece of social work.
The nine are: Birmingham City Council, Hounslow LBC, Hillingdon LBC, Hammersmith and Fulham LBC, Kent CC, Manchester City Council, Oxfordshire CC, Solihull MBC and West Sussex CC.
Two ways to improve local authority finances
The NAO has concluded insufficient action has been taken to address weaknesses in council finances. Teams from TLT LLP consider what councils should do next.
