Children’s Commissioner publishes letter sent to JCHR on UASC

Article summary

The Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, has published a letter sent to the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) on unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC). In the letter, the Commissioner has answered questions from the JCHR on age assessments, living in hotel accommodation and missing children. The Commissioner has said her team have not met any child that reflected negatively on their age assessment process or believed that their age had been wrongly assessed during visits to the Kent Intake Unit and hotels, and does not have any information on the number of children who have been wrongly assessed. The Commissioner has further commented that whilst in most cases basic needs are met, the visits to hotels show that children are not accessing adequate education provision, and she has concerns that children are not receiving the independent advocacy they are entitled to.