The Children’s Commissioner for England is demanding the Home Secretary releases figures for the number of children that will be affected by proposals to withdraw support and forcibly remove children and families with failed asylum claims.
Dame Rachel de Souza argues that the plans, which have been under consultation, to push families (including those with children receiving ongoing medical treatment) to leave the UK would cause significant harm to children and should not be implemented as proposed.
The Commissioner argues in a highly critical submission to the Home Office (published today) that the Children Act 1989 is clear that children’s best interests should always be at the centre of decisions about their lives.
She says in the submission: “I am clear that this includes every child in the country – with no exceptions. “
Dame Rachel has now written to the Home Secretary to ask how many children this policy may impact, where they live, and what support they might need. This follows estimates from her office that as many as around 27,000 children could be receiving Section 95 support (and therefore affected).
Dame Rachel de Souza, Children’s Commissioner for England, said:
“It is essential that we know how many children this may impact, where they live, and what support they might need. Despite my requests, the Home Office cannot assure me of the scope of the impact their proposals would have on children and families. I am therefore writing formally to the Secretary of State to ask how many children will be affected by the proposals.”
The consultation, launched in March, sought views on three measures that effect young people: reducing/removing support for families with a failed asylum application; reducing/removing support for adult care leavers with a failed asylum claim, and legislating the use of physical interventions on children during enforced removals proceedings.
Dame Rachel de Souza is clear that the government should set and enforce immigration rules, but her role is to ensure the rights and welfare of all children in England are protected – and that means that no child should be destitute or harmed because of their migration status.
Dame Rachel de Souza added:
“As Children’s Commissioner, I have a statutory duty to protect and promote the rights of children – that includes all children who arrive in this country, no matter how they get here or what their asylum status is. This is the approach I have taken with every government decision on immigration policy.
“As they are currently set out, all three of the proposals will put children at risk of harm.
“The Children Act is clear that children’s best interests should always be at the centre of decisions about their lives. And as I have argued throughout my five years in this role, that includes every child in the country – with no exceptions.
“I will continue to press for clear safeguards so that no child is subject to unnecessary distress, detention or force, and that their best interests are fully considered in any decision affecting them.”
The Commissioner sets out a series of concerns in her response to the consultation.
The risk that children could be left destitute
- The proposed 90-day window to leave or apply for Section 95A support (support which will only be available if families are at risk of destitution AND have what is determined to be ‘a genuine obstacle’ to leaving – and for which there is no appeal process) risks leaving families who cannot leave in that timeframe destitute.
The use of force
- Currently, immigration and other officers are not permitted to use physical interventions on children. The consultation proposes to permit both groups to physically intervene where an accompanied child does not comply with a requirement to leave the UK, for the purposes of effecting their removal. The continuum of interventions ranges from level 0 (non-physical measures) to level 3 (which includes the use of handcuffs). The Children’s Commissioner believes any force used against a child should be an absolute last resort, something which is used to protect them or others from harm and done so with the upmost gravity by trained professionals, acting transparently and with accountability.
The removal of support for care-leavers
- For all children, leaving care is often a cliff-edge moment. That precipice is even greater for children who are also facing a failed asylum claim. Providing care leavers with just 3 weeks to appeal, make arrangements to leave the UK or to find alternative support is simply insufficient for young people already facing a mountain to climb. This will mean for some care leavers that all support they receive is withdrawn 21 days after their 18th birthday.
Summary of recommendations
- The Children’s Commissioner recommends that further measures for family returns, such as those outlined in this consultation, are not brought into force until an evaluation of the Home Office’s Enhanced Voluntary Returns pilot has been carried out.
- Children cannot be left without support due to bureaucratic delays. The Home Office should continue to provide support to children in line with Section 17 of the Children Act while the next stages of their asylum claim are agreed.
- The proposals that ongoing medical treatment should not be considered an obstacle to leaving is at odds with the best interests of children. The Home Office should deem children undergoing ongoing medical treatment as having a genuine obstacle to leaving and treat them and their families as such.
- The Home Office should not action proposals to permit Immigration and Detainee Custody Officers to use force against children.
- The Home Office and Department for Education should ensure that care leavers with a failed asylum claim maintain their care leaver status until a human rights assessment has been carried out by the local authority, in line with current arrangements.
