Government urged to stop putting asylum seeking children in hotels after hundreds go missing

Figures show 3,256 have been housed in hotels since October last year, with an average stay of 16 days, and at least 222 have gone missing.

Under the current system, councils across the country are told by the Home Office to take in refugees who are under 18 and provide them with accommodation and support.

But a nationwide shortage of places in children’s homes has forced the Government to house a growing number of young asylum seekers in hotels until long-term placements can be arranged.

Thousands of adults seeking asylum are also being housed in hotels, at a cost of almost £7m a day, as the Government is struggling to find more suitable accommodation and clear a backlog of claims.

But the Local Government Association (LGA) said Downing Street must work with councils to create more accommodation for unaccompanied children who arrive in the UK and hotels should alway be a last resort.

The Government should also launch a recruitment campaign for foster carers who can take in these young asylum seekers and call on those who volunteered for the Homes for Ukraine scheme to consider providing accommodation for some of the older children, the LGA added.

It comes as councils are facing increasing demand since the National Transfer Scheme, which distributes asylum-seeking children across local authorities to receive support, is no longer voluntary. Almost 600 placements have been made over the last six months, up from 136 in the same period last year.

Louise Gittins, Chair of the LGA’s Children and Young People Board, said: “It is deeply concerning and unacceptable that these hotels, which were introduced as a short-term emergency measure, remain in use, especially as the number of children going missing from them continues to grow.

“Despite best efforts, recent changes to the National Transfer Scheme have failed to address the challenges that are preventing councils from placing every child as soon as they arrive. These include a lack of placements, an underfunded system, significant workforce shortages and challenges with age assessment.

“We urgently need a plan to tackle this crisis.”

In Parliament this week, Home Secretary Suella Braverman, said the Government is working to get all asylum seekers into suitable accommodation and ensure children are “processed far more quickly than”.

“We are receiving an unprecedented number of people coming into this country, many of whom are coming illegally,” she told MPs.

“Ultimately, we do not have enough space for these people and we need to find it quickly. It is very difficult. It will be done, but it will take time.”

The Home Secretary said the Government will introduce “more robust” age assessment procedures in the new year to clamp down on adult single males claiming to be unaccompanied children.

She also said children are “not routinely detained” at Manston immigration centre in Kent, where there are serious concerns about overcrowding, but some were held “for a brief period this summer while accommodation was identified”.

There were almost 100,000 asylum claims waiting for an initial decision from the Home Office in June. That figure is almost two-and-a-half times higher than at the end of 2019.