Support for unaccompanied children and children in families
Is an unaccompanied asylum seeking child (UASC) who starts receiving assistance from a local authority after the age of 16 eligible for continuing support under the provisions of the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 once they reach 18?
Yes. This was in the case of R (on the application of Berhe & others) v Hillingdon London Borough Council in August 2003.
The London Borough of Hillingdon had contended that even if the four applicants had been 'looked after' by the authority, the period during which they had been looked after had not commenced before they reached the age of 16 and, thus, [1] they were not entitled to leaving care services on reaching 18.
However, the correct test is that the child should have been looked after for a period of 13 weeks , or periods amounting in all to 13 weeks by the Local Authority, and that the support should have begun after s/he reached the age of 14 and ended after s/he reached the age of 16. There is no requirement that the 13 weeks of care should have commenced before the age of 16 was attained.
Any local authority now arguing that a former UASC is not entitled to leaving care provision merely because their care period did not commence before the child reached 16 would be open to legal challenge on one of the Hillingdon grounds.
The more substantial issue in the Hillingdon case is whether the assistance given to the applicants amounted to them being 'looked after' by the authority. If a child was 'looked after' for the prescribed period (which need not have started until the child was 16) the child will then be 'eligible' for leaving care support.
Revised: 21/01/08
Notes
[1] They had not been 'eligible children' for the purposes of the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 as inserted into the Children Act 1989 and, therefore, could not also be 'former relevant children'.
