Who are we?
Since the year 2000 over 15,000 unaccompanied children have entered the UK seeking asylum. On arrival these children have no identification, information, documentation or guardians.
The UK has a clear international obligation to offer all children services equivalent to the indigenous population.
Local authorities must therefore provide accommodation, education, health and other services as necessary.
However, the diverse and mobile nature of children supported by local government has hampered joined up care across authorities. At present the number of children, costs of care and length of stay in the asylum system remain relatively uncontrolled. This lack of coordination puts some of the most vulnerable people in society at risk.
Also the legislative restrictions placed on single adult asylum applicants and families has given rise to a perverse incentive for adults to claim to be children and families to present their children as unaccompanied.
To ensure continuity of care and prevent abuse of the asylum system, central and local government have built the National Register for unaccompanied Children (NRUC). For the first time data will be held and shared between local authorities responsible for the care of unaccompanied asylum seeking Children (UASC) and central government.
NRUC will establish and maintain a comprehensive database of information from the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) and local government Social Services Departments on Unaccompanied Seeking Children (UASC).
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How it works
Currently
- Home Office data matching exercise is time and labour intensive
- LA returns of mixed quality
- UASC status and age disputes are ongoing issues between LA & Home Office
The NRUC System
- Secure and protected by password and screen name protocols and tiered server architecture
- Encrypted for safer transfer of information
- Web based for ease of use throughout the UK
- Accessible by both front line workers and management
Benefits
- The records on NRUC will be created and refreshed by an interface with A-CID, and the data will be refined by the Local Authority assisting the child.
- NRUC will provide all information required for the Grant Claim
- Improve communication between Local Authorities
- Local Authorities can check NRUC directly to ascertain UASC status, details, and track updates to client case on A-CID
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Objectives
To provide accurate and rapid information to statutory agencies requiring vital information on unaccompanied asylum seeking children
To ensure that safe and appropriate placements can be allocated to unaccompanied asylum seekers by ending the increasing phenomenon of ‘age disputes’ amongst asylum seeker applicants and statutory agencies
To produce systematic and accurate data/reports to facilitate the management of performance monitoring and targets set by the Home Office and Local Government in all aspects of work amongst unaccompanied asylum seeking children.
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