Leicestershire County Council

Asylum and Migration · drafted 2026-07-02 · accepted · 5 finding(s)

← council-level findings on this theme

3 Jun 2025Where Leicestershire's minutes describe age assessment of children arriving other than via the National Transfer Scheme, it is recorded as routine Merton-compliant safeguarding practice to establish a claimed age, not as a mechanism used to decline NTS placements: the Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Committee heard on 3 June 2025 that the council would undertake a Merton-compliant assessment, and that only an individual subsequently assessed as being of adult age becomes the Home Office's responsibility rather than the council's — no cap, refusal or dispute of NTS allocations is recorded. [1][2]

4 Nov 2025On 4 November 2025 Leicestershire County Council's Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Committee was told, in the course of the Virtual School annual report item, that some unaccompanied asylum-seeking children arriving in the county had been placed in 'adult asylum hotels' and that this route 'has now largely reduced following the closure of adult hotels in the County'; members did not move or carry any motion or position on asylum hotels — the item was simply RESOLVED to be noted. [3][4][5]

4 Nov 2025Leicestershire County Council's published minutes contain no motion, cabinet decision or leader statement that caps, pauses, suspends, refuses, conditions or withdraws from the National Transfer Scheme (NTS) or the council's UASC intake; the only substantive discussion of the NTS is informational — at the Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 4 November 2025, officers described it as a mandatory Home Office scheme distributing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children regionally across the East Midlands, with Leicestershire sharing the responsibility alongside other local authorities, rather than any decision to limit it. [6][7]

3 Dec 2025Full-council 'Notices of Motion' business at Leicestershire County Council in the period covered (July 2025 to May 2026 ordinary meetings) addressed other national and local topics — e.g. opposing the Government's Digital ID scheme, Local Government Reorganisation, SEND funding, flooding and rural taxation — with no motion tabled opposing or restricting asylum hotels, Home Office contingency/dispersal accommodation, or migrant accommodation in the county. [8][9]

2 Jun 2026The council's Corporate Parenting Strategy, considered by the same committee on 2 June 2026, sets out how it will meet its statutory duties to children in care and care leavers (including UASC) to 2029, and was simply noted; the committee's resolutions concerned care-leaver data and member involvement in corporate parenting, with no resolution to condition, cap or otherwise limit UASC intake. [10][11]

References (11)
  1. Minutes, 3 June 2025 “the Department would undertake a Merton compliant age assessment, follow government guidance, and refer to a court assessment.”
  2. Minutes, 3 June 2025 “In the event that the individual was considered to be of adult age, the Home Office would then be responsible for their support.”
  3. Minutes, 4 November 2025 “Finally, they could be placed in adult asylum hotels. This had been done in Leicestershire and had resulted in individuals identifying as children upon arrival.”
  4. Minutes, 4 November 2025 “This route has now largely reduced following the closure of adult hotels in the County.”
  5. Minutes, 4 November 2025 “RESOLVED: That the overview of the work of, and data relating to, the Virtual School (VS) for the academic year 2024-2025, be noted.”
  6. Minutes, 4 November 2025 “a mandatory Home Office scheme which was designed to distribute UASC across the country.”
  7. Minutes, 4 November 2025 “Leicestershire sharing the responsibility alongside other local authorities.”
  8. Minutes, 3 December 2025 “48. TO CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING NOTICES OF MOTION:”
  9. Minutes, 3 December 2025 “(b) Opposing Labour's Digital ID Scheme.”
  10. Minutes, 2 June 2026 “sought its view on the Council’s Corporate Parenting Strategy which set out how the County Council would meet its statutory duties and responsibilities for children in care and care leavers until 2029.”
  11. Minutes, 2 June 2026 “That the Council’s Corporate Parenting Strategy which set out how the County Council would meet its statutory duties and responsibilities for children in care and care leavers until 2029 be noted;”