Government 'unlawful' in placing unaccompanied migrant children in hotels
It follows a High Court challenge by authorities, including Brighton and Hove City Council
The Home Office's "routine" housing of unaccompanied child asylum seekers in hotels is unlawful, the High Court has ruled.
The charity Every Child Protected Against Trafficking (ECPAT) brought legal action against the Home Office over the practice of housing unaccompanied youngsters in Home Office hotels, claiming the arrangements are "not fit for purpose".
Similar claims were also made by Brighton and Hove City Council and Kent County Council against the department.
It comes after more than 100 unaccompanied children were reported missing from an asylum hotel in Hove, with around 50 of those still unaccounted for.
In a ruling on Thursday, Mr Justice Chamberlain said the use of hotels for unaccompanied asylum seeking children 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."
The judge continued: "From December 2021 at the latest, the practice of accommodating children in hotels, outside local authority care, was both systematic and routine and had become an established part of the procedure for dealing with unaccompanied asylum seeking children.
"From that point on, the Home Secretary's provision of hotel accommodation for unaccompanied asylum seeking children exceeded the proper limits of her powers and was unlawful.
"There is a range of options open to the Home Secretary to ensure that unaccompanied asylum seeking children are accommodated and looked after as envisaged by Parliament.
"It is for her to decide how to do so."
Bella Sankey, the leader of Brighton and Hove City Council, said afterwards that she welcomed the ruling.
"As a result of this policy, a dozen classrooms of children, including some of the most traumatised and vulnerable children in the world, have gone missing and, sickeningly for us, 50 children are still missing from the hotel used in Brighton and Hove.
"Importantly the High Court also makes clear that the Home Secretary already has the power to require local authorities across the country to take children into foster care via a statutory rota system called the National Transfer Scheme.
"Suella Braverman must now urgently enforce this system so that the hotels can be emptied and all local authorities can play their part in safeguarding children.
"I'm proud that Brighton and Hove City Council has brought this ground-breaking legal case to hold the Home Office to account and ensure that all children in need of care can in future be properly safeguarded, irrespective of their nationality and immigration status."