Local authorities urged to fulfil Children Act duties to child asylum seekers
Clare Jerrom
Wednesday, August 30, 2023
Local authorities in England have been urged to appropriately support unaccompanied asylum-seeking children after a recent High Court judgment ruled that Kent County Council (KCC) acted in breach of the Children Act 1989 by failing to accommodate all lone children upon notification of their arrival.
Reiterating the duty on local authorities under the Act to care for all children in their area regardless of immigration status, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan wrote to councils asking for their support in caring for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, given the considerable challenges facing KCC.
The High Court judgment also confirmed that from December 2021, the systemic and routine use of hotels by the Home Office to accommodate unaccompanied asylum-seeking children was unlawful.
Keegan said: "The concentration of arrivals by small boat across the English Channel places by far the greatest expectations on KCC."
Applauding Kent for its ongoing commitment to supporting a number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children at or above the National Transfer Scheme (NTS) threshold level, in addition to their immediate response to the High Court judgment and engagement with the government on the required action to enable the council to accommodate all children arriving within its area, Keegan said all authorities need to comply with the terms of the mandated NTS.
The scheme, under which local authorities take it in turns to assume responsibility for unaccompanied children via a rota system, was previously voluntary but became mandatory in December 2021.
Keegan added that it was imperative for all local authorities "to play an active role to ensure that unaccompanied asylum-seeking children can be moved to local authority care in a timely way".
Since the High Court judgment was handed down in July, more than 166 children have been transferred to other local authorities through the NTS.
However, on 14 August, there were still 206 children waiting for a placement through the NTS, and 101 children are currently accommodated in Home Office-commissioned hotels.
"It is imperative that these children are moved out of Home Office-run hotels as soon as possible and into a local authority care placement, and that KCC receive assistance from other local authorities to assist with their capacity for new intake," said Keegan.
The High Court challenge was launched by the charity Every Child Protected Against Trafficking UK (ECPAT UK) over the practice of housing unaccompanied children in Home Office-run hotels, which the charity argued was an “unlawful” violation of the protections laid out in the Children Act 1989.
Justice Chamberlain ruled in July that Home Secretary Suella Braverman acted unlawfully by routinely accommodating newly arrived unaccompanied children in Home Office-run hotels.
The judgment also ruled that KCC had acted in breach of the Children Act 1989 by failing to accommodate all unaccompanied children seeking asylum upon notification of their arrival.
Vice president of the Association of Directors of Children's Services, Andy Smith, warned: “The High Court judgment on 27 July further highlights how the way in which we care for and support unaccompanied children who are fleeing desperate situations does not work.
"The NTS no longer effectively functions; the scheme was not designed to support the dispersal of such high numbers of unaccompanied children and young people which is why we need a comprehensive system wide review of how it operates."
