The number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking (UAS) children arriving in the UK along Kent’s shoreline has risen by 87%.

In the first half of 2023, 624 UAS children were referred to Kent County Council, increasing to 1,165 in the same period this year.

The council said it had been able to look after all UAS children who had arrived this year, in part due to an early warning system and emergency response plan developed with the Government.

But it said there were times it could only manage ‘by the narrowest of margins’, and continued to urge the Government to make changes to the National Transfer Scheme rather than relying on crisis management measures.

A council report says: ‘Kent CC has for far too long been expected to shoulder a large and disproportionate burden by itself, to accommodate and care for every UAS child (even on a temporary basis).’

Last month, the council was told in the High Court it must accommodate and look after all UAS children 'irrespective' of its resources.

Kent has been developing extra capacity, funded by the Government, with the first of several new reception centres to open ‘in the coming weeks’, according to the council report. 

Kent also said it would write to the new home and education secretaries to invite them to see its work safeguarding UAS children and the ‘real challenges’ it faces in doing so.

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