Housing migrant children in hotels is illegal, court rules

PUTTING lone child migrants in hotels is unlawful, the High Court ruled today.

Ministers will be forced to find other accommodation for those travelling alone without their parents – even in spite of spiralling small boat crossings.

But the Home Office insisted the huge numbers of small boat migrants making the dangerous journey across the Channel means they have been unable to find enough spaces.

More that 13,000 have made the crossing this year alone.

Charity Every Child Protected Against Trafficking (ECPAT) brought legal action saying the hotels were “not fit for purpose”.

Mr Justice Chamberlain said the practice is unlawful, as the power to place the children in hotels “may be used on very short periods in true emergency situations”.

He told the court in London: “It cannot be used systematically or routinely in circumstances where it is intended, or functions in practice, as a substitute for local authority care.”

Kent County Council were also found to have breached their duties by failing to accommodate, and then look after, all unaccompanied children after the Home Office informed them of their arrivals.

Earlier this month 154 children remained missing from hotels, including a 12-year-old.

But critics say some pretend to be under-age and go off to work in the black market instead of waiting for their claims to be processed.

Patricia Durr, chief executive of ECPAT, said: “It remains a child protection scandal that so many of the most vulnerable children remain missing at risk of significant harm as a consequence of these unlawful actions.”

But the Home Office insisted: “We have always maintained that the best place for unaccompanied children to be accommodated is within a local authority.

“However, due to the unsustainable rise in illegal Channel crossings, the government has had no option but to accommodate young people in hotels on a temporary basis while placements with local authorities are urgently found.

“In light of today’s judgment, we will continue to work with Kent County Council and local authorities across the UK to ensure suitable local authority placements are provided for unaccompanied children, in line with their duties.”