Government to make changes to National Transfer Scheme for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children but proposals not sufficient to deter Kent from threatened legal action

The Home Office and the Department for Education have unveiled changes to the National Transfer Scheme that they claim will ensure responsibility for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) will be more fairly distributed.

However, Kent County Council, which has borne the brunt of a surge in UASC, said that the proposals were not enough for it to withdraw its threat of legal action.

The local authority has also announced that for the second time it has reached an unsafe capacity and would no longer be able to accept any further new UASC arrivals from 14 June.

The Government's proposed changes to the National Transfer Scheme include:

• The introduction of a rota of transfers that is intended to provide regions and local authorities “with greater clarity as to the number of children to expect and the timing of those placements, allowing them time to plan ahead and better manage their capacity”;
• Provision of £6m in DfE funding for targeted support for the local authorities facing the biggest pressures in caring for UASC during the COVID-19 pandemic. Funding has been distributed to 56 councils in England that applied;
• The distribution of a pilot team of expert social workers to support local authorities throughout the UK on age assessment, ahead of broader age assessment reforms under the New Plan for Immigration.

Minister for Immigration Compliance and Justice Chris Philp said: “I am grateful for the many local authorities that support a significant number of vulnerable young asylum seekers.

“But the current system has not been working as intended with significant pressures being placed on particular areas. Caring for unaccompanied asylum seeking children is a national responsibility, which is why we are introducing a system that will ensure that these children and young people continue to receive the support they need whilst also ensuring a fairer distribution across the UK.

“We recognise the financial impact the current asylum system can have on the public purse which is why we are bringing forward the New Plan for Immigration which will fix the broken system welcoming those most in need through safe and legal routes, while preventing abuse of the system.”

Announcing Kent County Council’s decision to no longer accept any further UASC arrivals from Monday, its Leader, Roger Gough, and its Cabinet Member for Integrated Children’s Services, Sue Chandler, said it was clear that the Government did not plan to use its existing powers under the 2016 Immigration Act to make the National Transfer Scheme mandatory for local authorities.

They said the council was awaiting the Home Secretary’s formal reply to its Letter Before Claim and hoped Priti Patel would reconsider mandating the NTS “to prevent us having to pursue further legal action through the courts”.

Cllrs Gough and Chandler said: “The repeated failure of the voluntary NTS to meet the purpose the Home Office created it for in 2016, to keep pace with the rate of arrivals and provide timely transfers, coupled with Kent’s statutory duty to provide care for any unaccompanied child arriving on Kent’s shores has resulted in a significant and disproportionate number of UASC remaining in Kent rather than being dispersed fairly around the country. This has once again brought KCC support services to breaking point.”

Kent revealed that the number of under 18-year-old UASC in its care had risen to more than 400, when the government’s recommended maximum for the county was 231.

Cllr Gough and Chandler said: “It is a disappointment that despite a long-expressed view from KCC and other local authorities that only a mandatory NTS scheme will be fair and equitable, the proposals announced yesterday by the Home Office and to be launched in a month’s time will not exercise the existing power of the Home Secretary to mandate transfers under the NTS, and it will continue to be voluntary.”

Roger Gough said: “As we have experienced over the past few years, there is absolutely no evidence that a voluntary National Transfer Scheme has kept pace with the ever-escalating new arrivals on our shores. Having diagnosed the UASC problem in 2016 and established the prescription of the NTS, the government has used the placebo of a voluntary NTS instead of the cure of a mandated scheme.”

He added that if every other local authority in the UK were to take two or three under 18-year-old UASC who arrive at Dover into their care, Kent’s numbers would reduce to the council’s safe allocation immediately. “This remains, a small problem for the nation to resolve but a huge and unreasonable responsibility for Kent.”

Commenting on the Government's announcement, Cllr Nick Forbes, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Asylum, Migration and Refugee Task Group, said: “Councils have a strong track record for many years in welcoming asylum-seeking children, working with central government, national partners and regional bodies.

“We are pleased that the government has acted on LGA calls for additional funding to help with the challenges faced by councils to provide support to children and young people starting a new life in the UK. This funding will go some way to bridging the gap between government funding and what councils pay to support UASC leaving care.

“Councils will continue to face difficulties in finding appropriate homes for these young people, while ongoing challenges around age assessment and asylum claims add uncertainty for both councils and young people. By working closely together, councils and the government can make the national transfer arrangements work to enable all areas of the country to play their part in supporting our asylum system for both children and adults in a fair and transparent way.”