Reception centres for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children

Our reception and safe care centres are temporary homes for unaccompanied asylum-seeking (UAS) children upon arrival to Kent and until they move to more permanent homes across the UK under the National Transfer Scheme.

Here you will find helpful information about our legal duties, the children and the centres. If you would like further information please contact reception.enquiries@kent.gov.uk.

Legal duty and funding

In July 2023, the High Court ruled that the Home Office’s routine use of hotels to house unaccompanied asylum-seeking (UAS) children was unlawful, and that we must take "every possible step" to increase its capacity to accommodate and look after all UAS children arriving in the county.

The Court made this ruling because Section 20 of the 1989 Children Act sets out the duties of all local authorities to take into its care any child who presents in their area and has no one with parental responsibility to look after them.

We do not currently have enough placements in Kent to accommodate and look after all UAS children, who continue to arrive in large numbers. The urgency to comply with the Court and find suitable accommodation for children means it has not been possible for us to consult with residents in ways we might normally, and would prefer to do.

The reception centres and the services we provide to UAS children are funded by central government, not from our reserves or from the Kent taxpayer. Services for other children and residents of Kent are funded separately and any decisions we make regarding these services do not relate to the High Court ruling or UAS children.

Most UAS children arriving to Kent are referred to the National Transfer Scheme (NTS) to be cared for by other local authorities across the UK. The NTS is managed by the Home Office and has a mandatory timescale for children to transfer within 10 working days. The High Court found management of the NTS to be inadequate, and at times unlawful. We work closely with the Home Office and Department for Education to ensure children transfer from our care safely and within the mandatory timescale.

Reception centre information

A reception centre is a temporary home for unaccompanied asylum-seeking (UAS) children while they await transfer to another local authority under the National Transfer Scheme (NTS).

It is not a detention centre or immigration processing centre. Immigration checks are undertaken by the Home Office, prior to coming into our care. We are not responsible for processing or approving asylum claims.

Choosing the right buildings

We have chosen buildings for reception centres where:

• internal spaces are already configured in a layout to provide homely and appropriate accommodation for children, as is required by Ofsted regulations
• the location will allow children to develop early skills in acclimatising to community norms and socialising
• the layout and location is similar to reception centres we already have.

Seasonal occupancy

We expect to need to use all our reception centres throughout the year, but occupancy rates will vary and depend on the numbers of children arriving to Kent. UAS children arrive during every month of the year, but better weather can result in more children arriving during the summer than winter months. This means our reception centres will appear busier during the spring and summer than during the winter.

Age of occupants

Reception centres will be a temporary home for children, aged under 18 years old, only.

Ofsted registration

Centres must be registered with Ofsted, either as a home for children aged under 16, or as supported accommodation for children aged 16 and 17. We must ensure it has the right balance of children’s homes and supported accommodation to accommodate all UAS children arriving to Kent.

Ofsted requires children’s homes and supported accommodation to meet regulatory standards to ensure they are safe, well-run and meet children’s needs. Ofsted inspects children’s homes and supported accommodation to ensure they meet these standards.
This means the centres will be run and held to the same high standard as children’s homes and supported accommodation for any other group of children.

Centre names

The centres are named after trees from the home countries of UAS children, to reflect their purpose as a network of temporary homes for children arriving across the world for protection.

Recruitment

We're recruiting staff for our reception centres and there has been significant interest in the variety of roles we offer, from both people living locally to centres, elsewhere in Kent and nationally. We have not undertaken any specific international recruitment and are keen to be a local employer for the communities in which the centres are based. The salary gradings for reception centre roles are consistent with the salary gradings for similar roles in children’s services.

Vacancies are advertised on our jobs and careers website.

Information for residents

As the relevant legal arrangements are in place for each centre, we are sending letters to local residents and communicating with other stakeholders. Read about our communication with residents.

Contact details

Contact one of our centres by email:

For general enquiries email reception.enquiries@kent.gov.uk.

Caring for children at the reception centres

Unaccompanied asylum-seeking (UAS) children are separated from their families and experience extremely challenging journeys to the UK. Boys and girls of a variety of ages, nationalities and circumstances arrive in Kent, but many arrive from Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Sudan and Eritrea.

UAS children are extremely appreciative of the accommodation and support they receive from us and are eager to learn about, integrate and contribute positively to UK society.

Our experience of running existing reception centres for many years demonstrates UAS children present very minimal risk to local communities.

General care

The reception centres will have dedicated our staff and security on site 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.  Security is present to protect against unauthorised access to the centre, not because of the children themselves.

UAS children are Children in Care to us, which means each child has an allocated social worker, who work in the centres and lead a plan for their care. Each child also has an allocated Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) to ensure this plan is satisfactorily completed.

Our staff at centres are responsible for meeting the children’s basic care needs, providing a structured programme of activity and implementing expectations for behaviour. Our staff and interpreters fully orientate children with the local area so they understand and respect local laws and religions.

Education

As UAS children are only at reception centres for a short period of time, they are not enrolled in local schools and colleges. Instead, they receive on-site support for their learning needs and development of key skills and knowledge. This includes English language and guidance on English law and society, thereby providing children with the best and earliest opportunity to successfully integrate, whilst temporarily at the reception centre and when they move to their more permanent home in other local authorities.

Health

UAS children are registered with local GPs so they can access primary health care if they need to during their short stay at reception centres. Our staff use good professional judgement when responding to children’s health needs, for example accessing over the counter medication or pharmacy advice before seeing a GP where possible. Our experience of running reception centres for many years has shown most children do not frequently require GP consultations.

Other activities

If the reception centre has an outdoor recreation area, the children will use this and staff accompany children on organised activities off site.

Concerns and working together

Whilst there are many negative reports about asylum seekers, these can be inaccurate or deliberately seek to mislead. Even when information is factual, the act of one individual does not represent a group of people.

Our experience of running reception centres for many years demonstrates UAS children present very minimal risk to local communities, who are extremely appreciative of the accommodation and support they receive and are eager to learn about, integrate and contribute positively to UK society.

Existing reception centres, which are based in residential areas, close to schools and community services, have not resulted in risk to the local community or its residents.

We recognise the vulnerability of all children to risks, including exploitation. We use all information available to us, from the Home Office and partners, to assess risks and safeguard all children. Skilled and experienced our social workers meet with newly arrived children at Home Office facilities to assess their needs and risks before they are placed in reception centres. These assessments inform plans made around children before they are placed, and continue during the time they are in our care.

Due to the vulnerability of newly arrived UAS children we work closely with Kent Police and other partners to ensure reception centres are safe, both for the children and the communities they are based in. Protocols at existing reception centres that have worked well for many years are in place at all new reception centres. Strong communities help make it difficult for those who might intend to harm children to operate and we hope you will support the promotion of UAS children’s safety, well-being and sense of belonging within the communities where reception centres are based.

Age assessments

UAS children may arrive in the UK without any evidence of their age. The Home Office robustly considers any differences between a child’s claimed age and their presentation and the information they provide on arrival. If the Home Office considers a person to be older than 18 years old, they will not refer them to us. Accommodation and support for adult asylum seekers is provided by the Home Office.

Whilst our experience of running reception centres for many years shows this to be rare, if concerns are raised regarding a child’s age, then experienced social workers complete an age assessment as a priority. If the age assessment concludes the child is over 18 years old, they are moved immediately to Home Office accommodation and support for adults.

Centres near schools

One of our existing reception centres is based in a residential area, close to local schools and community services. This centre is operating well and has been for many years, with no adverse effect on the local schools or the children attending them.

Generally, there is limited interaction between children at the reception centres and children attending local schools because UAS children are only at the reception centres for a short period of time and are just beginning to acclimatise to their local community. Nonetheless, we work with local schools to keep them informed about the centres.

We also work with some interested Kent schools to organise events that give children from across the world the opportunity to learn and play sport together, and which are very successful. Parents of children involved are informed and provide their consent.

Children leaving the centre

UAS children in the care of us are not in detention and reception centres are not secure settings.

Under the 1989 Children Act, UAS children have the same rights and are entitled to the same level of care as any other looked after child, including access to services and amenities in the local community.

Therefore, children are able to independently leave reception centres for short periods of time, with the agreement of staff about where they will be and when they will return. This could be at different times of the day and will depend on the child’s age and individual circumstances, but generally older children are asked to return by early evening. If a child does not return at a time agreed, at any time of day, staff will take all possible steps to locate them which may include reporting them as missing to the police.

Social workers and staff at reception centres, some of whom have more than 10 years' experience in the field, are very skilled in managing any issues which might arise and addressing them with partners quickly and effectively.

If you have any concerns about the behaviour or activities of UAS children outside of the centres, contact the reception centre.