Young asylum seekers and unregulated accommodation
June 2020
The RMCC response to the Department for Education consultation on ‘Reforms to unregulated provision for children in care and care leavers’
The Department for Education recognises that unaccompanied asylum-seeking children form a significant part of the ‘growing’ number of children being placed in independent and semi-independent settings, which are not registered or inspected by Ofsted. Despite unaccompanied asylum seekers only forming 6% of the population of looked after children, they form 43% and 36% of the children living independently and in semi-independent accommodation, a significant difference.[1] The Children’s Minister has explained this difference as being because “the majority of unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC) are aged 16 and over” and so are “more likely to benefit from high quality placements in these settings than the wider cohort of looked-after-children”.[2] While she is correct about the demographics of this group – at 31 March 2019, there were 5,070 unaccompanied children looked after by local authorities, of which 4,330 were aged 16 and 17 [3] – there has been little research undertaken to ascertain whether this group of children are in fact “more likely to benefit” from being placed in unregulated accommodation.
In February 2020, the Department for Education launched a consultation on Reforms to unregulated provision for children in care and care leavers. The RMCC’s consultation response draws on existing reports, the experience of a number of RMCC members and direct feedback from 21[4] children and young people receiving support from members. Evidence for this consultation response was collected prior to the child-friendly, accessible version of the consultation being made available; children and young people and those working with them were asked about the following areas:
- Children and young people’s level of understanding and the extent to which their voices were heard when a decision has been made that they will be placed in unregulated accommodation.
- The support received in unregulated accommodation.
- Whether children and young people felt safe in unregulated accommodation.
- What could be done to improve the accommodation provided to young asylum seekers.
There is significant evidence to suggest these children’s needs are not being properly assessed prior to and after placement, are not being met in unregulated accommodation and that they often do not understand their options for care/ accommodation and do not have their views taken into consideration.
The RMCC’s full consultation response can be downloaded here.
[1] Department for Education, Use of unregulated and unregistered provision for children in care: Research to understand the increase in use of unregulated and unregistered provision for children in care and care leavers, and concerns about quality, February 2020, at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/use-of-unregulated-and-unregistered-provision-for-children-in-care, p 6
[2] https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2020-03-10/27597/
[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2018-to-2019
[4] 11 children and young people were consulted by CARAS, four by the British Red Cross, four by Young Roots, and two by the South London Refugee Association