Supporting Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children through the National Transfer Scheme

This letter sets out the considerable challenges that Kent County Council (KCC) is facing in light of the High Court judgment on 27 July, and asks for the support of all local authorities to help ensure that unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UAS children) are given the care and support that they need.

The Rt Hon Gillian Keegan MP

Secretary of State for Education

Sanctuary Buildings 20 Great Smith Street Westminster London SW1P 3BT

tel: 0370 000 2288 www.education.gov.uk/contactus/dfe

Directors of Children’s Services in England

Leaders and Lead Members for Children’s Services of local authorities in England

(Sent by email)

15 August 2023

Dear Colleagues,

Supporting Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children through the National Transfer Scheme (NTS)

Sarah Hammond (KCC) wrote on 31 July asking for the support of all local authorities. I echo this and want to reiterate that I remain hugely grateful to you for everything you and your teams are already doing to support UAS children. I recognise the overall challenges on children’s social care services, and my Department has a strategy to seek to support you in responding to these.

Despite this context, it is paramount that all local authorities continue to play an active role to ensure that UAS children can be moved to local authority care in a timely way and this letter sets out our expectations and the support available to help enable this.

The High Court judgment handed down on 27 July confirmed the duty on local authorities under the Children Act 1989 to care for all children in their area regardless of immigration status. That judgment also confirmed that from December 2021, the systemic and routine use of hotels by the Home Office to accommodate unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UAS children) was unlawful. The Home Office is seeking to move UAS children out of all Home Office contingency hotels at pace.

The concentration of arrivals by small boat across the English Channel places by far the greatest expectations on KCC. I am grateful to colleagues at KCC for its ongoing commitment to supporting a number of UAS children at or above the National Transfer Scheme (NTS) threshold level. Similarly, I am grateful for their immediate response to the High Court judgment and for their engagement with us on what action is needed so that KCC can accommodate all children arriving within its area.

For this to be possible, every local authority needs to comply with the terms of the mandated NTS, so that the transfer of children from the care of KCC is completed within the timescales set out in the NTS protocol, or sooner.

I am also hugely grateful that a number of you have already responded to the need for support, including directly to KCC. However, despite significant reductions in the number of UAS children in hotels – with more than 166 children having transferred through the NTS since the High Court judgment was handed down – more children are currently still waiting for a placement. As of 14 August, 206 children are awaiting a placement through the NTS, of whom 101 are currently accommodated in Home Office-commissioned hotels. 51 of these 101 children have been waiting for a permanent placement for more than 2 weeks. It is imperative that these UAS 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.

You can support efforts to ensure that children receive care in accordance with the Children Act by:

Ensuring transfers through the NTS are completed within the timescales set out in the NTS protocol, or sooner.
Proactively identifying any placements that you have available that could be suitable (e.g., foster care, children’s home, supported accommodation).
Offering to receive additional UAS children into your care outside the established NTS rota, including by assuming responsibility for any already accommodated in your area, including but not limited to those placed by Kent County Council.

The Government will continue to actively support you to accommodate UAS children. As announced on 20 July, the Home Office has confirmed that it will again be providing local authorities with incentivised funding linked to quicker transfers. The incentivised funding scheme, in place throughout 2023-2024, will provide local authorities with an additional lump sum of £6,000 for each child transferring within 5 working days from a dedicated UAS children hotel. The Home Office will write to you on incentivised funding following the judgment soon. My officials are working at pace across government to support you to ensure suitable placements are provided for all unaccompanied children. This includes exploring all available provision in Children’s Homes, Foster Care and Supported Accommodation as outlined below:

Children’s Homes

Ofsted has made us aware that there are over 70 children’s homes nationwide which are currently registered but are closed. We recognise that in some circumstances this is for important and pragmatic reasons, but we would be grateful if you can explore with relevant providers whether they would be able to bring the home back into operation under its current registration as a children’s home. You will find details of the homes registered but not operating in your area listed in the register of children’s homes provided to you by Ofsted. These homes have a condition of registration that the home has to contact HMCI before reopening.

Ofsted has agreed that any new children’s home provision that is being specifically opened as part of the response to accommodate unaccompanied children can be processed under their priority application process. You will find details of that here: Registering children’s homes in an emergency: priority applications - GOV.UK.

My officials have also asked the Children’s Homes Association to write to their members encouraging them to contact you if they have spare provision in your area which could be used to meet the needs of UAS children.

You will be aware that the Department for Education is investing £80 million of matched funding to support local authorities to open new children’s homes or increase the provision within existing children’s homes. I know that some of these projects are now complete, but they are not currently operational as children’s homes. I encourage you to consider, if you have a capital project in your area, if the provision could open sooner as a children’s home or if it could temporarily provide supported accommodation for older children.

Foster Care

Kent County Council has written to several Independent Fostering Agencies asking for available placements for UAS Children, and 50 placements were available at that point in time. I have asked my regional teams to discuss with individual local authorities how they can utilise these placements as quickly as possible for UAS children. Officials are exploring how the department can support improved data sharing between independent fostering providers and local authorities, to help identify foster capacity across the country and speed up the UAS children national transfer scheme process. The department will also shortly provide guidance clarifications on areas where local authorities can use discretion in placement decision making, to help maximise potential foster care placements.

The department is already working to support the recruitment and retention of foster carers across England as part of our ‘Stable Homes Built on Love’ commitments and will expand this programme to more LAs in the coming year, subject to final approvals. As part of this work there will be targeted communication campaigns aimed at recruiting foster carers including for UAS children.

Supported Accommodation

You will be aware that the department is introducing national standards and Ofsted registration and inspection requirements for providers of supported accommodation that accommodate 16- and 17-year-old looked after children or care leavers. These reforms will raise the bar for this type of provision, ensuring that all children are in high quality settings that meet their needs and keep them safe, and give Ofsted powers to take action where provision isn’t good enough. Providers must submit a complete application to register with Ofsted by 28 October to legally operate beyond this date and comply with the new national standards. Local authorities and providers should submit their registration applications to Ofsted as soon as possible, so that Ofsted can work with you to give you and your providers the best possible chance of being ready for the end of October.

I know that these reforms represent major change for providers and local authorities, and we continue to monitor progress with application numbers as we approach 28 October. We’re supporting local authorities with the costs of these reforms through £123 million of new burdens funding between now and 2025. The department has recently appointed the National Children’s Bureau to lead a national sector awareness and provider preparedness programme to support providers and local authorities and they are tailoring regional and national support based on emerging issues and trends in application numbers, and we encourage you to take advantage of this support if you haven’t already. You can find details of the programme: Sector Awareness and Provider Preparedness for the new quality standards, registration and regulation regime for supported accommodation.

In the medium and long term, the reforms set out in Stable Homes Built on Love will help secure the necessary conditions for a stable and effective children’s social care system, including as set out above. I eect to publish our response to the consultation in Autumn 2023.

If you are experiencing challenges with the NTS, or have any questions, my officials are ready to support you. Please do not hesitate to contact your Regional Improvement and Support Lead in the first instance.

I am hugely grateful for all the impressive work that you and your staff do day in, day out for vulnerable children. All vulnerable children deserve the best we can offer. I look forward to continuing to work with you to ensure that these high standards, that I know you share, are met for every unaccompanied asylum-seeking child. I look forward to hearing of progress in the coming days in securing the rapid move of children through the NTS. Yours sincerely,

The Rt Hon Gillian Keegan MP

Secretary of State for Education