An unaccompanied child asylum seeker, who was testing positive for Covid-19, was sent to a hotel run by the Home Office without the local council knowing.
There have been big concerns about the safety and standards of child asylum seeker hotels in the UK .
The Deputy Leader of Brighton and Hove City Council said the council were given less than 24 hours notice by the Home Office* that asylum seeking children were being sent to a hotel in the area in July 2021.
Councillor Hannah Allbrooke said: “We had less than 24 hours notice.
“It was quite shocking that the planning is of that level… There was no consultation, no discussion.
“It was just, ‘it’s happening and you can’t do anything about it.’”
The Councillor said the Home Office had already moved one child asylum seeker into the hotel in July 2021, without the council knowing. At the time, the child was testing positive for Covid-19.
She said: “What we later found out was that they actually already started.
“That day they told us, they [had] moved one young person into the hotel already.
“At the time our COVID rates were really high. One of our questions was how safe is it to be moving a bunch of young people into our area when the COVID rates are so high?”
The Cllr described the problems with the asylum seeker hotels and the difficulties the Council faced speaking with the Home Office.
She said:
- The child asylum seeker hotels initially had no “social workers”
- The Home Office were “pushing away” charities and voluntary groups from supporting the asylum seekers
- The Home Office “weren’t listening” to concerns raised by the council
- It took “months” for important changes to be made to the hotels
WHAT’S THE BACKGROUND?
Since July 2021, 4,600 asylum seeking children who arrived in the UK without an adult have been placed into hotels.
The number of hotels being used by the Home Office to house unaccompanied asylum seeking children rose from 0 hotels in 2020 to 6 in 2021 to 9 in 2022.*
The Home Office have made clear the hotels were not all in use at the same time during the same period.
WHAT HAVE THE HOME OFFICE SAID?
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Due to the rise in dangerous small boats crossings, the government has had no alternative but to urgently use hotels to give unaccompanied asylum-seeking children arriving in the UK a roof over their heads.
“We are pleased the Brighton and Hove Council review found that the Home Office works well with the local authority and police to ensure the safety of children in our care.
"But we are determined to stop the use of hotels for all minors.”