Migrant children, sometimes as young as six, are entering the UK unaccompanied and taken in by the local authorities.

This increase in migrant children entering Britain without a parent or guardian was discussed at an EU Home Affairs Sub-Committee on Wednesday, April 13, in the House of Lords, to see how local authorities are coping with the influx.

Leader of Dover District Council, Paul Watkins and Andrew Ireland, corporate director of social care, health and wellbeing at Kent County Council as well as Paul Chadwick from Croyden Borough Council gave evidence.

The aim was to gain as much information as possible on how much strain local authorities are under when it comes to looking after migrant children and keeping them safe.

Mr Ireland said the youngest child coming through the port of Dover or Eurotunnel unaccompanied was just six-years-old but he did add that this was quite a rare case.

He said: “The prominent age group coming through is 16-17-year-old young men. Being able to access college places and English as a second language education has been difficult and there have been issues and concerns about the ability for these young men to be gainly occupied given that there are restrictions on asylum seekers.

“Where we have younger children it’s slightly less of an issue in terms of getting them into schools.”

Mr Ireland said the impact on schools in terms of the volume of pupils who are unaccompanied asylum seekers can not be underestimated.

He also claims that more needs to be done in terms of health checks once a child enters the UK.

He added: “The cohort ones coming through the port and tunnel have certainly come through Calais and may have been living in very difficult circumstances in France for a while.”

He said the majority of those coming through this way are from Eritrea and many could have post-traumatic stress issues from their experiences in Libya.

Local authorities, including KCC receive payment for each migrant child in the system which is enough to maintain basic care for that child and can be increased if more support is needed.

Cllr Watkins also highlighted the need for local authorities to share information and advice, he said the South East Migration Partnership works very well on this.

He said: “The group offers training to asylum seekers and children so they can return to their country of origin with a trade.”

It was suggested that not all migrant children end up in care and those that go missing may fall through the cracks, with a lack of guidance on whether they are classed as a missing person or if it is an immigration matter.