Refugee children missing out on legal advice, says report

According to the Navigating the System report, 59 per cent of professionals said it is becoming increasingly difficult to find legal representatives to refer children's cases onto.

A further 70 per cent of survey respondents said that children were forced to travel long distances to access legal representation when it could be secured, while a similar proportion warned that a large proportion of legal advisers lack capacity to take on new clients.

Professionals told Coram Children’s Legal Centre that even when they did find an immigration solicitor to refer children to, many lacked the necessary experience and expertise for working with children.

The charity argued that existing difficulties have been exacerbated by the closure of key legal aid immigration providers.

Refugee and Migrant Justice, which had around 10,000 clients and represented around one third of all unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in the country, closed in June 2010.

The Immigration Advisory Service, which had 8,000 clients, closed in July 2011. In addition, several law firms, such as Fisher Meredith, have closed their legal aid immigration departments.

The report added that the situation looks set to be compounded by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offers Act, which includes measures to end the provision of legal aid for non-asylum immigration claims, even in cases of separated children.

Kamena Dorling, manager of the Migrant Children’s Project at the Coram Children’s Legal Centre, said the receipt of advice and representation could mean the difference between life and death for children are applying to the UK Border Agency to remain in the UK.

“Many of these children have already experienced human rights abuses in their countries of origin and journeys to the UK that few of us can imagine,” she said.

“Once here, they face hugely complex administrative and legal challenges simply to access the support and protection to which they are entitled.

"These children require access to good advice and free quality legal representation. Without it, they are not able to get the support that they are entitled to, or challenge instances where their rights are violated.

“If access to advice diminishes further, we are at risk of letting down and further marginalising some of the most at risk children and young people in the UK, and violating our domestic and international legal obligations to ensure that all children are safeguarded and have access to justice.”