Kent County Council (KCC) might soon turn away child migrants arriving at Dover. Its services are overwhelmed, the authority has said. In its first steps towards legal action against Home Secretary Priti Patel, KCC wants her to make other councils take "their fair share".
So far this year, 242 lone child migrants have arrived on Kent shores and been passed to children's services, but only 52 have been moved to other local authorities under a voluntary transfer scheme, KCC said. The number has nearly doubled now. While there was a rise in young migrants entering KCC's care last year, the total number of unaccompanied children seeking asylum across the UK fell by more than 1,300.
From April 2020 to March 2021, 2,044 asylum claims were made by lone children, compared to 3,530 in the previous 12 months. The majority of asylum-seeking children arrive with their families, Home Office figures show. KCC wants the existing voluntary transfer scheme to be compulsory.
The BBC reported that this “comes days after Ms Patel lost a High Court legal fight over the Napier Barracks asylum centre in Folkestone”. The Home Office said it continued to encourage more areas to do their part.
Bridget Chapman, of Kent Refugee Action Network, said, "Councils aren't going to accept the responsibility without it being funded properly. These young people are incredible. With the right foundation, they are going to contribute an enormous amount to our communities."
The KCC has served a formal Letter Before Action to the Home Office and said that without any substantive response to its proposals by 17 June, it would issue a claim for judicial review.
A spokeswoman for the Home Office said: "We recognise the longstanding role that Kent County Council has played in supporting unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and are extremely grateful for their contribution. We continue to encourage more areas to join the National Transfer Scheme and do their part. We have already consulted on how to improve the scheme to make it fairer, the outcome of which will be published very shortly."
