Merton Council has received more than £200,000 in an effort by the Government to help ease pressure on services resulting from recent migration.

The latest funding, announced by Communities Minister Lord Bourne, will be allocated to 123 projects across England, with two of those being in Merton.

The first project, which will see £92,113 brought into the borough, will be used to provide additional social work support for unaccompanied asylum seeking children; increasing young people’s engagement in community activities and creating opportunities to develop the skills and language necessary for cohesive integration.

A council spokeswoman said that they would "also recruit specialist, local foster carers from a variety of backgrounds reducing reliance on expensive out of borough provision and provide additional training for carers to help them identify and effectively respond to mental health concerns such as PTSD.

"This will provide a greater opportunity for our residents to be become foster carers; reduce expensive placement instability and in turn, increase the wider communities’ understanding of the challenges faced by unaccompanied asylum seeking children."

The second lot of funding (£150,000) will go towards Merton's 'migrant rough sleeper integration project'.

"The increasing number of migrants from central and eastern Europe and other countries who end up rough sleeping on the streets of Merton, many for a long period of time, is having increasingly negative impacts on local residents and businesses, and damages relations between the settled population and migrants.

"This project will provide these ‘long-term’ rough sleepers with a package of assistance, including temporary accommodation, bespoke ESOL classes, advice to benefits and job search by bi-lingual workers, link to support services, and will minimising exploitations by rogue landlords to ensure they have access to good quality and sustainable housing solutions."