The cost of looking after asylum seekers rose €300m to €800m last year, according to new figures from the refugee settlement agency COA.

The increase in costs stems from the surge in refugee numbers in September and October in particular. Over 18,000 people reported to the country’s refugee centres in those two months alone.

In total, 59,000 applied for asylum in the Netherlands last year, most of whom came from Syria, the COA said.

The COA’s workforce has also expanded from 2,030 to 3,800 to cope with the rise. Most of these were employed through staffing agencies and as freelancers.

The real cost of the refugees is likely to be far higher, when other costs such as schooling and immigration service costs are taken into account.

The government said last June the total bill for 2014 was €860m. In addition to the money which went to the COA, assessing asylum claims cost the immigration service €197m while the deportation service budget was €72m.

Non-profit organisations which support refugees had just over €30m in subsidies, education for refugee children cost over €56m and spending on free legal advice for asylum seekers totalled €26m.

The figures were published following requests from the anti-immigration PVV. Some 24,000 refugees came to the Netherlands in 2014.