In its final judgment in a case against the Home Office and Kent County Council (KCC), the High Court has ruled that a council “cannot derogate from its duties to take responsibility for unaccompanied children] under the Children Act 1989”.
The ruling comes as part of a case brought by charity ECPAT UK over the treatment of unaccompanied children arriving in the UK.
On two occasions, in 2021 and again in 2022, Kent said it could no longer take responsibility for lone children arriving in Dover.
Council leaders said it would be “unsafe” to do so and issued section 11 notices under section 20 of the Children Act in making its decision.
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