On Thursday 3 September, the Lancashire County Council cabinet agreed that the council will stop acting as the coordinating authority for the Home Office refugee resettlement schemes.

West Lancashire had two voices at that table. Cllr Simon Evans, county councillor for Skelmersdale Central, Deputy Leader of the council and Cabinet Member for Children and Families, and Cllr Ella Worthington, county councillor for Skelmersdale West and Cabinet Member for Civic Pride, were both among the ten members of the cabinet present. The minutes record no apologies and no declarations of interest, and the decision was agreed with no dissent recorded.

For a town like Skelmersdale, that representation matters. Decisions of this kind used to be taken about places like ours rather than with us. Two of the people in the room this time represent Skelmersdale.

What was actually decided

Lancashire County Council is the coordinating authority for all 15 Lancashire councils across five Home Office schemes, taking on the administrative responsibility afresh every year. The officer report is blunt that this is a choice, not a duty: “There is no statutory duty upon the county council to be the coordinating or accountable body for these schemes.” It also notes that not all councils do this, and that two-tier areas across the country take a mix of approaches.

Cabinet was offered three options: continue as now; stop taking on new arrivals while supporting existing families to the end of their support periods; or end the administration altogether with a managed transition. Cabinet agreed the third, Option 1, and resolved that the Home Office be notified of the decision and the reasons behind it.

Those reasons are on the public record in the minutes: the council’s commitment to value for money and to delivering services “effectively and efficiently for all residents fairly”; that, having considered the report and the Equality Impact Assessment, the county council “is not best placed to administer the schemes identified”; that ahead of Local Government Reorganisation this work belongs with the councils holding the statutory housing duties; the case for one clear transition; and “the unfairness of a dedicated scheme which is not open to all Lancashire residents”.

The scale of it

The published report sets out the numbers. As at 31 March 2026 the schemes were supporting 745 individuals, with 1,250 supported since 2016. The county council has claimed £18.013m from the Home Office since 2020, and was holding £6.530m of that unspent in reserve at the end of March.

That is Home Office money, ringfenced to these schemes. It is worth being clear about that, because this decision was never a saving. What it changes is who does the administration.

What it does not do

This will be misdescribed, so be clear about the limits.

It does not stop refugees coming to Lancashire. The report says so directly: withdrawal “would not automatically result in an end to refugees resettling in Lancashire”. It does not touch asylum seekers or asylum accommodation, which are a Home Office matter handled through its own contractors and were never part of this. And it does not remove the county council’s duties to anyone living here, refugees included. Cllr Joshua Roberts, the portfolio holder who brought the report, made the same point, that the decision relates to administration rather than support for refugees living in Lancashire, and committed to a safe and managed transition.

The handover will be phased, with the council’s administrative responsibilities ending no later than 31 March 2027.

The argument worth having

The real question this puts to Whitehall is who carries the cost of a national scheme. The Home Office grant currently pays for support that sits alongside services the county council has to provide anyway. The report is candid that under Option 1 the ability to charge those costs to the grant goes, leaving an estimated £0.800m a year for the existing cohort unless a successor arrangement picks it up, and that a managed exit securing that funding “would minimise financial impact on the council”.

That is the argument worth making: central government designs these schemes, and central government should fund the burden it creates rather than leaving it on a county council’s books by default.

What happens next

The opposition groups at County Hall have called the decision in. A special meeting of the Community, Cultural and Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee is scheduled for 3.00pm on 11 September, and the decision cannot be implemented until scrutiny has dealt with it.

That is how the council is meant to work, and Reform will make its case at scrutiny in the ordinary way.

Cllr Evans and Cllr Worthington continue with the day jobs West Lancashire elected them for: children’s services, and the state of our streets and town centres. Being in the cabinet means being there for the hard decisions as well as the easy ones.