Committee writes to Home Secretary for update on missing asylum-seeking children

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In 2023, it emerged that 440 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children had gone missing from Home Office run hotels. By March, 2024 118 of these children had still not been found and there has not been a further official update since the General Election.

Member of the Committee, Baroness Doreen Lawrence said:

“Back when the Committee first looked at this in 2023, we were deeply disturbed that not only could so many children could just disappear from the asylum system, but that there seemed to be so little urgency to find them. We have written to the Home Secretary for an update on what has happened to all those children, if there are any that remain unaccounted for and if so, what is being done to find them.

“This serious failure in the asylum system cannot simply be treated as a one off. We also want to understand what the Government is doing to learn lessons and fix flaws. We want to know what safeguards are now in place to ensure children are housed safely from now on and what support has been provided to those children who have now been found.”

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