There is no mechanism laid down by law to identify vulnerable groups or persons with special reception needs, although there is policy that instructs caseworkers to assess whether the asylum seekers have any special medical needs that will affect dispersal.[1] This policy was revised in 2016, adding specific instructions to safeguard the continuity of care for pregnant women. A separate policy on allocating asylum accommodation says that “regard” should be had to the particular vulnerabilities of people with disabilities or serious health problems. There is no guarantee that any requests will be accommodated.[2] Even where disabilities have been identified, there are reports of inadequate accommodation being provided.[3] Challenges to the suitability of accommodation can be made by judicial review.[4]
If the asylum seeker has e.g. a medical report, which already shows that they are vulnerable, or has some other individual assessment showing this, the accommodation provider is required to take their vulnerability into account in providing accommodation.[5] Aside from this the law provides no specific measures to address the reception needs of vulnerable groups. In 2023 a challenge to the use of hotel accommodation for families unless exceptional circumstances could be established was dismissed.[6] However individual challenges to the suitability of hotel accommodation for families can still succeed.[7]
If an asylum seeker discloses a health need during screening (i.e. before dispersal) the Home Office must provide sufficient information to the accommodation provider to ensure that necessary arrangements for dispersal are put in place i.e. appropriate travel, accommodation and location. The accommodation provider is contractually obliged to take an asylum seeker to a General Practitioner within 5 days of dispersal if they have a pre-existing condition or are in need of an urgent General Practitioner review.[8]
Whether needs are addressed in fact is variable according to local practice. Initial accommodation centres are run by private companies under contract to the Home Office. The Initial Accommodation includes a healthcare team who offer a basic screening of the health needs of all residents. There have previously been issues with the health screening not taking place (at Penally barracks, since closed).[9] In practice, unless vulnerability is identified at one of the initial accommodation centres by a healthcare provider, it is unlikely to be identified until the asylum seeker discloses a problem to a voluntary, community or community advice organisation. The provision of suitable accommodation to people with disabilities, in particular the delays in providing such accommodation was found to be unlawful in a case in December 2020.[10]
Room sharing is same sex only, but accommodation (e.g. the hotel) will be mixed.[11] Self-contained accommodation is usually only for families and is a flat or house with their own kitchen and bathroom. Share houses must have at least one bathroom and kitchen per five people.[12] There is a lack of safeguarding in hotels which has resulted in children going missing[13] and being sexually assaulted.[14] Access to assistance such as interpreters is through calling Migrant Help. Access to services such as police and social workers is not on site. There is a safeguarding framework but this does not go into detail about measures put in place to protect women and children.[15] In practice, raising and escalating issues is difficult due to the lack of transparency about how to make complaints and who is responsible for resolving them.
The Home Office has a ‘protected period’ of eight weeks for women not to be moved for four weeks before and after giving birth.[16] However, the accommodation allocated during this time is in initial accommodation centres, in which conditions are often not conducive to the care of a new baby.[17] The particular difficulties for pregnant women and new mothers were highlighted in both the 2018 Home Affairs Committee report,[18] and the Independent Chief Inspector’s report on the same subject. The government issued an assurance action plan with its response to the latter report.[19] Research from the Asylum Support Appeals Project, Scottish Refugee Council and Refugee Council revealed the lack of attention to women’s safety in asylum support accommodation.[20] The government issued revised guidance to caseworkers in 2019 which included provision for refuge spaces to be funded in cases where that is deemed necessary.[21]
If it comes to light that an asylum seeker has been trafficked, they may be referred to special accommodation run by the Salvation Army where specific support is given and the trafficking case considered. If they are not in receipt of asylum support, they will be entitled to a weekly payment of £49.18 (€ 57.29) per week, or £15.30 (€ 17.82) if they are also being provided with accommodation. The same is payable for child dependents where asylum support is not being paid, as well as an additional payment of £9.50 (€ 11.07) per week for a baby under one, and then £5.25 (€ 6.12) per week from one until they turn four. If the person receives a positive reasonable grounds decision (the first decision in a two stage process) then they will receive an additional payment of £26.17 (€ 30.48) per week in addition to their asylum support or trafficking support payments.[22]
Reception and care of unaccompanied children
Where a person has claimed asylum and there is uncertainty about whether or not they are a child following an initial age assessment, they will be given the benefit of the doubt. They, and those who are accepted as being under the age of 18 will be referred to a local authority social services department which becomes responsible for their care. If it is later determined that they are an adult, they will be moved to adult accommodation, and if a child has been wrongly assessed as adult, when this decision is overturned they will be moved out of adult accommodation.[23] Provisions of the Illegal Migration Act 2023 that are not yet in force will make the Secretary of State for the Home Department responsible for the children instead, with the power to transfer this responsibility to the local authority.[24] They should be looked after according to the same standards as other young people in the care of local authorities.[25] There is little practical guidance for social workers on the specific needs of these children, although statutory guidance for England and Wales was reissued in 2017 and contains more practical guidance.[26] The joint safeguarding strategy published in November 2017 identified future work such as resources for professionals, guidance and training.[27] An update of this work in 2019 shows that much is still to be completed.[28] No update has been issued since then.
A mix of accommodation is used, data is provided for those who are aged 16 to 17. 42% of unaccompanied asylum seeking children were living independently and 45% in semi-independent accommodation, compared to the average of 23%.[29]
In practice the experience of these children varies; some make good relationships with their carer and feel fully supported. Some are very confused and frightened, are not treated well, and do not have a named social worker responsible for them. The named social worker is responsible for the implementation of the care plan which details how the child should be looked after through the process. This includes helping them to find a legal representative. Many discharge this function through referral to the Refugee Council’s Independent Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children Support Service (formerly named the Panel of Advisers); funded by the Home Office since 1994 to assist unaccompanied children through the asylum process including finding legal representatives for the children.[30]
Some local authorities, such as those with a port of entry and immigration control within their boundary, have become responsible for a disproportionate number of unaccompanied children, as the responsibility lies with the local authority where the child is first identified. When numbers started to rise in 2015-2016, particularly around the port of Dover, some local authorities, particularly Kent, reported that they were finding it difficult to look after them appropriately and asked other local authorities to offer placements for them. The Immigration Act 2016 included provision for the legal transfer of responsibility from the initial local authority to a second local authority that has volunteered to take over the care. Initially possible only in England; in 2018 the government extended it to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.[31] Funding is provided to local authorities for the care of unaccompanied children and those who have left care but are still the responsibility of the local authority.[32]
The Refugee Children’s Consortium produced a briefing note outlining some of its members’ concerns about the operation of the transfer scheme, particularly focusing on the difficulties children face when their transfer is uncertain or delayed.[33] There had been a drop in the overall numbers transferred since the scheme began; however, the numbers rose in 2020, largely due to the declaration in August that Kent County Council (responsible for children arriving at the port of Dover) had reached their capacity and would not be taking children into its care. Children were transferred directly from the port to local authorities around the country. A report by the Children’s Commissioner for England was critical of the time some children spent at the port awaiting transfer.[34]
The situation continued in 2021, during which time the Refugee Council and others wrote to the Children’s Minister expressing concerns and urging action to resolve the issue.[35] Kent once again announced that it was no longer prepared to take unaccompanied children into its care. The government announced changes to the way the scheme would be run in July 2021[36] but children were housed in hotels, outside of the local authority care system[37] and the scheme was made mandatory at the end of the year.[38] Further changes were made to the National Transfer Scheme in 2022 relating to the allocation and timings of transfers.[39] However, the use of hotels continued and was the subject of scrutiny by NGOs,[40] parliamentarians[41] and the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, whose inspection between March and May 2022 was assisted by Ofsted, which has responsibility for inspection and scrutiny of statutory services for children. The ICIBI report was damning of the principle of this arrangement and of the standard of care provided. Issues included a lack of security checks carried out on staff, lack of access to full education, only one hotel with an operational kitchen, nurses unable to prescribe basic medication.[42] The Chief Inspector of Ofsted mentioned this issue in her annual speech to Children’s Services professionals.[43]
The Home Office’s systematic and routine use of hotels as accommodation for unaccompanied asylum seeking children was successfully challenged.[44] As of January 2024 the government reported that there were no unaccompanied children in hotels.[45]
The total number of unaccompanied children seeking asylum cared for by local authorities in England is published regularly. At the end of March 2023 this figure was 7,290 which is almost 9% of the total population of children cared for by local authorities in England.[46] An additional 110 are in the care of local authorities in Wales. The governments of Scotland and Northern Ireland do not publish statistics of this kind.
Once a claim has been refused and asylum appeal rights have been exhausted the care of young people over 18 is often limited to those for whom a withdrawal of support would breach their human rights. This tends to be a more minimal provision than that provided to other young people. Provisions of the Immigration Act 2016 will restrict further the support that local authorities can provide to those over 18 who are appeal rights exhausted but this has not yet been enacted still in 2023. Those who have leave, as a refugee or otherwise, will receive assistance from the local authority in line with British citizens in the same situation, under the Children (Leaving Care) Act[47] which will include help with accessing housing.
[1] Home Office, Healthcare needs and pregnancy dispersal policy, available at: http://bit.ly/1Vgcw9H.
[2] Home Office, Allocation of asylum accommodation policy version 11.0, 12 February 2024, available at: https://bit.ly/3ULqiZW.
[3] Diane Taylor, ‘Asylum seekers with disabilities ‘abandoned’ in former Essex care home’, The Guardian, 23 June 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3UPMa6z.
[4] see e.g. High Court, NS, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWHC 2675 (Admin), available at: https://tinyurl.com/ytw7evvk.
[5] Asylum Seeker (Reception Conditions) Regulations SI 2005/7.
[6] High Court, R (MQ) v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWHC 205 (Admin), available at: https://bit.ly/3OSr1ES.
[7] High Court, R (SA) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWHC 1787 (Admin), available at: https://bit.ly/3uxQCMA.
[8] Ibid, Home Office Asylum Process Guidance.
[9] Doctors of the World, “They just left me” Asylum seekers health and access to healthcare in initial and contingency accommodation, April 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3UM9qSV.
[10] AA v Home Office [2020] EWHC 3416 (Admin), 14 December 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/3buURvU.
[11] Home Office, Asylum hotel summary and FAQ, 7 March 2024, available at: https://bit.ly/49pan7U.
[12] Home Office, Living in dispersal accommodation, 25 May 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3T7LoQZ.
[13] Rajeev Syal and Diane Taylor, ‘UK minister admits 200 asylum-seeking children have gone missing’, 24 January 2024, available at: https://bit.ly/49n6LDr.
[14] BBC News, ‘Two children sexually assaulted at migrant hotel’, 3 November 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3wptTCO.
[15] Home Office, Asylum support contracts safeguarding framework, 9 May 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/49pc7OK.
[16] Home Office, Healthcare needs and pregnancy dispersal policy, available at: http://bit.ly/1Vgcw9H.
[17] Home Affairs Select Committee, Asylum accommodation, January 2017.
[18] Home Affairs Select Committee, ‘Government failing asylum seekers housed in “degrading” accommodation’, 17 December 2018, available at: https://bit.ly/2XBNvOh.
[19] Home Office, Asylum support – Assurance Action Plan, available at: https://bit.ly/2NMOTJt.
[20] Helen Baillot and Elaine Connelly, Women seeking asylum: safe from violence in the UK?, 2018, available at: https://bit.ly/2IWFbFi.
[21] Home Office, Responding to reports of domestic abuse from asylum seekers, 24 January 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/36ggBpj.
[22] Home Office, Modern Slavery: statutory guidance for England and Wales (under s49 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015) and non-statutory guidance for Scotland and Northern Ireland, 22 February 2024, available at: https://bit.ly/3wo5RYR.
[23] Home Office, Assessing age, March 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3uIaM6t.
[24] Illegal Migration Act 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3IgBuWN.
[25] Department of Education, The Children Act 1989 guidance and regulations Volume 2: care planning, placement and case review, July 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3OSMgGI.
[26] Department of Education, Statutory guidance for unaccompanied migrant children and victims of modern slavery, November 2017, available at: http://bit.ly/1tZSXZv.
[27] Government, Joint Safeguarding Strategy, November 2017, available at: http://bit.ly/2mXriMd.
[28] Letter to the Chair of the Education Select Committee, June 2019, available at: https://bit.ly/37Aj8wg.
[30] Refugee Council, ‘Independent Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children Support Service (IUSS)’, available at: https://bit.ly/3UhqmwL.
[31] The Transfer of Responsibility for Relevant Children (Extension to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) Regulations 2018, available at: https://bit.ly/2Ry84vI.
[32] Home Office, Unaccompanied asylum seeking children and leaving care: funding instructions, 22 September 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/42TRDen.
[33] Refugee Children’s Consortium, Briefing on the National Transfer Scheme, August 2017, available at: http://bit.ly/2DBT2Nv.
[34] Children’s Commissioner, ‘Detention of unaccompanied children arriving in Kent during 2020’, 5 February 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/2OQIPnS.
[35] Refugee Council and others to the Children’s Minister, ‘Refugee Council and seven national charities call on Children’s Minister Vicky Ford to protect every unaccompanied child’, 28 January 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3FN3KNm.
[36] Government, Changes to the National Transfer Scheme, 10 June 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3KwfFT3.
[37] Correspondence between the Home Affairs Select Committee and the Home Office on unaccompanied children in hotels, available at: https://bit.ly/3ItWJTn.
[38] Department for Education and Home Office, National Transfer Scheme Protocol for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children – Version 6.0, 17 August 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3VDxK6K.
[39] Ibid.
[40] ECPAT UK, Outside the frame: Unaccompanied children denied care and protection, available at: https://bit.ly/3N3SQcZ.
[41] Response to a parliamentary question, ‘Asylum: Children’, answered 21 June 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3GRdH0p and length of stay October 2022.
[42] ICIBI, An inspection of the use of hotels for housing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) – March-May 2022, October 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3XE9vHb.
[43] Transcript available at: https://bit.ly/3VCzCfK.
[44] High Court, R (on the application of ECPAT UK) v Kent County Council and another, [2023] EWHC 1953 (Admin), available at: https://bit.ly/49pan7U and
[45] Written response, Asylum: Children Question for Home Office UIN 11353, 29 January 2024, available at: https://bit.ly/3SLI6l7.
[46] Department for Education, ‘Children looked after in England including adoptions’, available at: https://bit.ly/3FakqkE.
[47] Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000. Devolved governments have similar provisions.