Care of unaccompanied and trafficked children

Overview

Since Summer 2016, the Department for Education has consulted and collaborated with a range of local authorities, non-government organisations and other government departments to identify the required revisions and produce a revised draft of the 2014 statutory guidance on the care of unaccompanied asylum seeking and trafficked children.

This consultation now seeks views as to whether the revised guidance provides sufficient advice to local authorities in England looking after unaccompanied migrant children and child victims of modern slavery. In particular, we would be grateful for responses to the questions below. Other comments or suggestions would also be welcomed. Where making comments in relation to the guidance, please refer to the relevant paragraph numbers and provide suggested alternative text where appropriate.

Why your views matter

The statutory guidance on the care of unaccompanied asylum seeking and trafficked children was originally published in 2014. Recent legislative changes such as the Modern Slavery Act 2015, policy developments such as the National Transfer Scheme (NTS) for unaccompanied asylum seeking children and events around the recent migration crisis have meant that it is necessary to update the guidance so that it is of best use to local authorities.

What happens next

We plan to publish the revised statutory guidance by Spring 2017.