Toggle menu

Councillors and committees

Agenda item

National Transfer Scheme and Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children

Report of Strategic Director, Children’s Social Care and Lifelong Learning

Minutes:

The Board received a report on the Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC) national scheme and Gateshead’s progress to date.

 

It was reported that at the end of 2021 local authorities were served with notice to comply with the National Transfer Scheme.  Gateshead was initially given a quota of 0.07%, this has now risen to 0.1%, this equates to 39 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. This is a rolling total so once the young person reaches 18 they will drop off the total.

 

From April 2022 to December 2022, 33 young people were allocated to Gateshead. 20 of this cohort now have a new home in Gateshead, 9 young people were withdrawn by the Home Office before they arrived. Work is ongoing to find a foster family or supported accommodation for 4 young people. 

 

It was noted that all the young people allocated to Gateshead were aged between 15 and 18 years old.  The majority of the 33 young people were male and identified their country of origin as Iran or Afghanistan. It was reported that all 33 young people are in some form of education and all have an allocated Social Worker. The young people that come to Gateshead have suffered trauma and trafficking.

 

Gateshead has been identified for a further 4 young people in the next cycle. It is not yet known as to when the next cycle will happen as this will depend on when they arrive into the country.  It was noted that there tends to be an increase in numbers across the UK during the warmer weather so that would be when the cycles move quicker.

 

Once young people are allocated to Gateshead, the authority has five days in which to provide accommodation. It was acknowledged that this is a real challenge. If the authority does not comply with the timescales there is a challenge process from the Home Office. Gateshead has only been challenged once so far.

 

It was recognised that this is a real challenge for all local authorities in terms of the provision of care. This impacts on the number of children and young people allocated to Social Workers. An additional 39 children in care equates to an extra two Social Workers, based on 20 cases per Social Worker.  It was noted that there are financial incentives attached to the scheme, however the challenge remains in terms of a lack of resources.

 

Foster carer recruitment remains a challenge across the region and Gateshead is part of regional fostering campaign for the UASC programme.

 

It was questioned how the language barrier is dealt with. It was confirmed that an interpreting service has been commissioned and often the young people speak English quite well.

 

It was queried what happens to these young people when they turn 18. It was confirmed that they would transfer to the care experienced service.

 

 It was questioned how the Legal Migration Bill will impact on this. It was noted that services will continue to be planned for young people and nothing will change in that respect. There is a clear view from the Home Office that this is not expected to change anytime soon, therefore the authority’s responsibility will not change for the foreseeable future.

 

It was questioned as to what a flat with support amounts to and what relationship they have with a Social Worker.  It was confirmed that a determination will be made under section 20 as to the level of need of each individual young person and what their needs are, based on age and skills. For some of the older young people arriving in Gateshead it has been determined that they can be best supported through supported accommodation. This will be a property with 24/7 support. In addition, the service has commissioned out support around life skills for these young people. The level of need depends on the assessment of need.  There is a dedicated Social Worker for these young people, who has developed skills in working with trauma experienced young people and language barriers. Work is underway to look at developing this role further in order to ensure resilience. Social Workers within the team are advocates and there is a therapeutic life story worker to look at the trauma these young people have experienced.  The Trauma Informed Service, which is due to be implemented in May, will train staff to develop skills in working with children and young people around trauma.

 

It was queried how long the assessment of these young people takes and where they are placed in the meantime. It was confirmed that the assessment begins as soon as they arrive in the UK (in Kent), they then pass the assessment to the allocated local authority. Social Workers undertake assessment of need quickly while they are placed in hotels in the South. This is an ongoing assessment and needs continue to be assessed through Child Protection Reviews.

 

The point was made that the North East Refugee Service (NERS) has rejected the approach of placing these young people in anywhere but families. It is felt that there would not be enough support and potential isolation. It was suggested that the young people would be able to learn and understand more about the country by living with families. It was questioned if they are being placed in supported accommodation is this due to a lack of foster placements.  It was agreed that a meeting with NERS would be arranged with the Strategic Director to ensure work is joined up as there is a lot of regional coordination work ongoing to share best practice.  It was acknowledged that there is a range of young people coming into the area with a wide range of need and some are very independent and living in a family base would be the opposite of what they want. The aim is to have a wide range of options and choice open for these young people, some would not want to be placed with families. It was noted that placement sufficiency is the biggest strategic priority locally and therefore there is always pressure in that respect.

 

It was suggested that Ward Councillors would benefit from knowing how they can appropriately and constructively support these young people.  It was agreed that more thought needs to be given to mentoring opportunities going forward and potentially invite some of these young people to this Committee if they were willing.

 

RESOLVED    -           That the Committee noted the information provided in the

report and would receive an update report at a future meeting.

Supporting documents:

 

Help us improve this site by giving feedback