Child asylum seekers missing after disappearing from hotels in Hove

Just 57 out of 125 missing children had been located, with 51 cases still under investigation. Most of the other cases had been “filed” unsolved.

A senior safeguarding official shared figures showing that 62 children, or almost half of those who had vanished, went missing in just two months last year – August and September.

The numbers had since tailed off, with no children reported missing since the start of the year so far.

And more than 90 per cent of the children who had gone missing were Albanian, possibly because they were “disenfranchised” by the asylum process, according to the official, Justin Grantham.

Mr Grantham told Brighton and Hove City Council’s children, young people and skills committee that this was a national problem.

He said that the National Crime Agency and police looked at whether traffickers were exploiting the children but found that most of those who were found were not linked with organised crime.

They had often simply gone off to find family or friends in other parts of the country.

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The council’s executive director for children, families and learning, Deb Austin, said that the police locally did not believe that the children were being exploited or groomed.

She said that the council’s chief executive Geoff Raw had met the Sussex Police divisional commander for Brighton and Hove’s, Chief Superintendent Justin Burtenshaw, to discuss the matter.

Mr Grantham, the council’s head of safeguarding and performance, said that, since July 2021, about 1,500 children and young people had stayed at three hotels in Hove, some with their families.

The number included some 600 unaccompanied asylum seeking children who were billeted at a dedicated hotel.

Most of the children stayed for a few days in Hove before moving on, Mr Grantham said, although some remained longer.

Ms Austin said that the council was currently providing support for 50 unaccompanied asylum seeking children and 119 care leavers who had left the hotels in Hove.

The Home Office provided some funding but this was not enough to cover the council’s costs, prompting Labour councillor Les Hamilton asked about the shortfall.

Ms Austin said that the council received £143 a day or about £1,000 a week for each unaccompanied asylum-seeking child in the council’s care. But it cost £1,200 a week to look after them.

Green councillor Hannah Allbrooke asked whether the extra costs amounted to £500,000, adding to the pressure on the council’s financial position.

Labour councillor Bella Sankey spoke at a meeting discussing the issue

Ms Austin said that the council had in fact had to find an extra £800,000. She said that most unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who stayed in the area were moved into supported housing because most were aged 16 to 17 and less suited to foster care.

Labour councillor Bella Sankey asked if the council was taking advice on whether the Home Office had the legal authority to transfer children and young people arriving in Kent to Hove.

She was told that the Home Office decided when there was “no room at the inn” in Kent – and then transferred them to towns and cities including Brighton and Hove.

Conservative councillor Anne Meadows asked whether grooming gangs had targeted youngsters placed in the hotels in Hove. She was worried that they could be recruited into “county lines” drug-dealing gangs.

Mr Grantham said that the council had worked closely on the issue with the Home Office, police, serious organised crime officers and council representatives in Kent and East Sussex.

He said: “It was a national issue, emerging in association with children from Albania and children that our analysis found were potentially disenfranchised from the potential asylum seeking process.

“That was the feedback we were getting from young people and from professionals and experts.

“This was a particular issue with Albanian children who didn’t feel the official process of seeking asylum was going to meet their needs.

“And they were encouraged to go missing from the hotels very early on in their stay, often within 24 hours of being in the premises.”

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Ms Austin said: “Any child going missing from anywhere is an area of concern for all of us.

“The sense from the police is that they don’t believe this is around children being trafficked in terms of being exploited or groomed. It’s concerning we don’t know where they are.

“The police sense very much that it is around young Albanian men, who are 16 to 17 years old, recognising – in terms of the asylum system – that they’re unlikely to be given asylum if they go through the formal channels.

“So they are moving out of the formal system as a way of maintaining their placement in the country.”