Kent has no more capacity for child migrants

Kent County Council has said that it can no longer ‘safely meet its statutory duty’ as the authority reaches capacity for the care of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.

More than 400 children, most of whom arriving in Dover across the English Channel by small boat, have entered the authority's care so far this year. The government says that it has provided extra support, but the council says responsibility lies across England.

Under-18s arriving in the county alone are passed into the care of the local authority, with a small number later transferred to other councils that volunteer to help.

However, Roger Gough, the council’s leader, said that he warned the Home Office his authority ‘expected to reach safe capacity to meet its statutory duty of care this weekend’. It is unclear what will happen should more children arrive in the coming days.

He said: “I am deeply disappointed and concerned that, despite our many efforts to avoid this unthinkable situation, it has been necessary to make this announcement today. This is a huge challenge for Kent, but a relatively small challenge to solve nationally, and should have been resolved before now.

“Since the arrival of significant numbers of UASC at the port of Dover in 2014/15, KCC has cared for and found homes for over 1,500 UASC in Kent, and is currently responsible for 589 under 18 year-old and 945 (18-25 year-old) care leavers, whilst still sustaining our focus on delivering high-quality services to citizen children in care.

“The stark reality today is that, despite my conversations with the Home Office alerting them that Kent expected to reach safe capacity to meet its statutory duty of care this weekend, 13 new arrivals in the last two days has now tipped the balance and the council simply cannot safely accommodate any more new arrivals at this time.”