The National Transfer Scheme (NTS) was established in 2016 and in the first five years there were an average of 42 transfers per month. By September 2023, the number of transfers had grown six-fold to average 264 per month. No one then could have foreseen the impact upon the care system – UASCs made up 21 per cent of all children taken into care by 2022/23.
The NTS, which became mandatory in December 2021, was never designed to manage the volume of arrivals and there is now a need to revisit a system that is no longer fit for purpose.
The last decade has seen a shameful dehumanisation of these often vulnerable and traumatised children who need our care and protection. In all the furore about “stopping the boats” and proposals to deport people to Rwanda, there’s been no recognition that nearly a quarter are children.
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