More than 100 unaccompanied child migrants go missing from hotels

116 children - some as young as 11 - disappeared between July 2021 and August 2022, after temporarily being put in hotels by the Home Office

Migrants move a smuggling boat into the water as they embark on the beach of Gravelines, near Dunkirk, northern France on Oct 12
Migrants move a smuggling boat into the water as they embark on the beach of Gravelines, near Dunkirk, northern France on Oct 12 Credit: Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP

More than 100 unaccompanied child migrants have gone missing after being put in hotels in the past year, official figures have revealed.

The 116 children - some as young as 11 - disappeared between  July 2021 and August 2022, after temporarily being put in hotels by the Home Office. Charities warned they may have fallen victim to sexual abuse or exploitation.

The Government has been placing children who arrive in the UK in approved hotels since July last year, after local councils said there was not enough capacity to house them in suitable accommodation.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman has made it one of her priorities to find alternatives to hotels which are costing the government £3 million a day to accommodate 12,000 asylum seekers including men, women and children.

Some 1,606 children who arrived alone between July 2021 and June 2022 were placed in hotel accommodation by the Home Office, according to its own figures.

The FOI data, obtained by BBC Two’s Newsnight programme, showed that 181 children aged 18 or less went missing in the 14 months from July 2021, of which 65 wee later found, leaving 116 still missing.

The Home Office said it had "no alternative" but to use hotels while long-term accommodation was found.

But the charity ECPAT UK said the number of missing children was "shocking" and called on the government to stop placing them in hotels.

"They could be working away in a cannabis farm, in a factory, domestic servitude. There's a whole range of exploitative situations that these young people could be in," said its chief executive, Patricia Durr. "They could be being criminally exploited or sexually exploited behind closed doors."

Rishan Tsega, who was arrived in the UK from Sudan on the back of a lorry aged 17 and has since been granted asylum, told the BBC she feared some of those missing children could end up in the hands of the traffickers who brought them into the country.

"They [traffickers] like to manipulate young people and make them do things when they get here. I wouldn't doubt that. This is nothing new," she said. "They might say if you go to this place you have to pay us back, otherwise I will kill your mum, or your family. How are you going to respond?" she added.

The Home Office said it was seeing an "unprecedented rise in dangerous Channel crossings". It said: "On average, unaccompanied children seeking asylum are moved to long-term care within 15 days of arriving in a hotel, but we know more needs to be done.

"That is why we are working closely with local authorities to increase the number of placements available and offer councils £6,000 for every child they can provide accommodation for.

"Any child going missing is extremely serious, and we work around the clock with the police and local authorities to urgently locate them and ensure they are safe."

More than 35,600 migrants have crossed the Channel this year, with a further 374 reaching the UK on Tuesday. That compares with 28,500 in 2021.

The Local Government Association, which represents councils, said it was "working tirelessly to find suitable placements for unaccompanied children, with 597 placements made in the past six months".

While it said placements were increasing, it also called on the Home Office to stop using hotels. "Councils have expressed concerns to the government around the impacts on children, including the risks around children going missing," it added.

In July, the Home Affairs Select Committee reported that the disappearance of separated migrant children from hotels was "extremely concerning".

It said the government must "immediately and clearly confirm where responsibility lies for every aspect of safeguarding children housed in accommodation".

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