The Family Division of the High Court has ruled that unaccompanied children seeking asylum in the UK are the responsibility of local authorities, which have full powers and duties to protect them under the Children Act 1989.

These children have been treated as if they are in legal limbo since 2021, without proper safeguarding, and hundreds have been reported missing. But on Friday the judge confirmed that local authorities have the responsibility to keep them safe and secure.

Earlier this year, a whistleblower revealed that dozens of children had gone missing from a hotel run by the Home Office. So children’s charity Article 39 – supported by Good Law Project – applied to the Family Court to consider making a cohort of children who went missing in Brighton and Hove “wards of court”, to ensure they would get the urgent protection they needed.

This was a novel application: our two organisations are not aware of a charity seeking to protect the rights of a group of highly vulnerable children this way before. 

Two hearings were held in March and April this year. At the first hearing, the Home Office said that 66 children remained missing from a single hotel. It has since been said that a total of 154 children who have been housed in Home Office accommodation remain missing. According to the Home Office minister Robert Jenrick, there are no unaccompanied children currently in hotels run by the Home Office – but this could change. 

The judge ruled that the children could not be protected as wards of court because they are already protected by the Children Act 1989. This important clarification of the law means that local authorities must now uphold their safeguarding duties for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who come into their area.

“This judgment has brought vital clarity to a wholly unacceptable situation,” said Carolyne Willow, Director of Article 39, “where extremely vulnerable children have been treated as being in ‘legal limbo’, outside the protection of the Children Act 1989. That was a fiction which unforgivably exposed children to serious harm.”

Jennine Walker, Legal Manager at Good Law Project, said: “We call on the Government to ensure local authorities have the funding and support they need to fulfil their statutory obligations, and ensure that these children now receive the fundamental protection and care they need and to which they have a right.”

This application was one of three challenges we are working on with Article 39 to protect the rights of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.

Thank you for your support. 

In a Good Law Project-backed case, children’s charity Article 39 has written to the government to reiterate its concerns that housing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in hotels is unlawful.

In early March, we supported Article 39 to send a Pre-Action Protocol (PAP) letter – the initial step in a potential judicial review – arguing that the Home Office’s practice of housing extremely vulnerable children in this way had no legal basis and was against their best interests.

After seeking two extensions and taking a month to respond to the letter, the government failed to respond to the queries and requests for the information raised, and relied on a distorted interpretation of the Children Act 1989 to deny any wrongdoing.

We have therefore supported Article 39 to write again to the government to correct their factual and legal positions and offer a further opportunity to respond.

The first step in this potential legal challenge was taken after a whistleblower reported that dozens of children had gone missing from a government-run hotel, with clear indications that they had been trafficked by criminal gangs. The government has admitted that it is unaware of the whereabouts of hundreds of children.

The Home Office has stated that it had to step in after it faced a situation where the children would be uncared for.

However, Article 39’s further pre-action letter highlights that this is a “rewriting of history”. Ordinarily, unaccompanied minors would have been cared for by local authorities under the Children Act.

Just this week, a group of UN experts expressed “alarm” at this policy, stating: “The current policy of placing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in hotels places them outside of the UK child protection system and is discriminatory.”

In a separate action, Good Law Project’s Executive Director, Jo Maugham, and Carolyne Willow, Founder Director of Article 39, have written to the Home Secretary to raise serious concerns about proposed guidelines on the restraint of children under the new Illegal Migration Bill.

In the Bill’s children factsheet, the Home Office states: “[u]sing force on children in family groups may unfortunately be necessary if a family is resisting removal”.

The letter reminds the Home Secretary that the physical restraint of any person is an exceptionally serious matter, which can result in serious physical and psychological harm and even death. The gravity of the issue and the potential harm it causes are significantly heightened when restraint is used against children.

In addition, the new factsheet is inconsistent with current Home Office Guidance, which states explicitly that “[p]hysical intervention must not be used to force children”. This sends mixed messages to civil servants, immigration enforcement officers and the public, posing serious risks to children.

A “targeted consultation” on the policy has been proposed, but there is limited information on what this will entail. The letter asks for a response from the government on these issues by April 18, 2023. 

Thank you for your support.

The Family Division of the High Court has heard an urgent application seeking to provide protection to a group of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in the UK who are missing.

Good Law Project supported children’s charity Article 39 to bring this novel case before the Court in light of a whistleblower report that dozens of children had gone missing from a Home Office-run hotel, with clear indications that they had been trafficked by criminal gangs.

As reported in the Guardian, lawyers representing Home Secretary Suella Braverman confirmed to the Court that 66 children remain missing after disappearing in Brighton and Hove. The Judge said these children are falling through the gaps, journalist Hannah Summers reported. 

“The matters raised in this application are of the utmost gravity and urgency, concerning the protection and fundamental rights of some of the world’s most vulnerable children,” written submissions from barrister Amanda Weston KC read. 

The hearing was the first stage in a process seeking protection for the missing children, with Article 39 seeking an order which would require the Home Office to disclose details about the children to the Family Court.

Lawyers representing the Home Secretary have confirmed that information about the children – including their names and dates of birth – can be disclosed to the Court, it was reported. 

This is a positive step, getting us closer to securing vital protections for these vulnerable children. A second hearing date has now been set for April.

Article 39 is asking for the children to be made wards of court and for Children’s Guardians to be appointed to look after them.

These guardians would have the power to ask the Court to assist with locating them and make welfare decisions on their behalf once they are found. They will no longer be left in a situation where no one takes proper responsibility for them.

This application is one of three challenges we are working on with Article 39 to seek the proper protection of children without any parent or guardian who are seeking asylum in the UK. 

More information about the hearing can be found here: Sixty-six children still missing after vanishing from Brighton asylum hotel, The Guardian. 

Thank you for your support. 

Last week, we told you Good Law Project and Article 39 had written to the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) asking for an urgent inquiry in relation to the use of hotel accommodation for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. Our letter was supported by 51 organisations, including the Refugee Council, Human Rights Watch and Children England. 

Today, we received the good news that the Committee shares our ‘considerable concerns about the safety and accommodation of unaccompanied children in hotels’ and is ‘happy to accept [our] letter as written evidence’ to the inquiry. The Committee also indicated it would consider requests from the individual organisations who signed the letter to submit evidence.

We are pleased that the JCHR has acknowledged the importance of this issue, and that there is now the opportunity for all those who signed our letter to ask to submit further evidence to the inquiry. 

This letter makes up just one element of our legal campaign to seek proper protection for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. You can read about the other legal actions we are taking here. 

The need for proper scrutiny on this issue has become ever more important in light of the Government’s announcement of the Illegal Migration Bill, which was introduced to Parliament on 7 March, and has been heavily criticised. 

Last week, the Children’s Commissioner for England expressed “deep concern” over how unaccompanied children will be treated under the new proposals, with specific concerns around the use of Home Office-run hotel accommodation.

Thank you for your support.