Analysis

Asylum transfer reforms prompt questions over commissioning

5 mins read Social Care Asylum
Changes to timeframes and thresholds for the National Transfer Scheme for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are "not enough" say local authorities struggling to find and fund suitable places for new arrivals.
Lone migrant children in temporary accommodation are now expected to be transferred to local authority care within five working days. Picture: Vanja/Adobe Stock
Lone migrant children in temporary accommodation are now expected to be transferred to local authority care within five working days. Picture: Vanja/Adobe Stock

Further government changes to its process for placing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children fairly across all local authorities has prompted questions over how councils will cope with finding places for more children with complex needs, in an “already overloaded, yet underfunded” system.

The latest Home Office reforms to its National Transfer Scheme (NTS) build on a move to make it compulsory for councils to take part earlier this year, in response to a rise in “dangerous and illegal small boat crossings” over the last three years, which has resulted in thousands of children arriving at key entry points like Kent.

Under the changes, which came into effect on 24 August, councils must find placements for unaccompanied migrant children equal to 0.1 per cent of their overall child population in their area before accessing the scheme to move a child to another local authority – an increase from the 0.07 per cent threshold introduced when the scheme was first launched in 2016. This means that councils will be expected to take in more unaccompanied children before reaching the threshold to refer into the NTS.

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