The new Home Secretary is to be invited to Kent as new figures show the number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking (UAS) children arriving has risen sharply.

Kent County Council (KCC) leader Roger Gough hopes to impress upon Yvette Cooper the pressures caused by the authority’s legal obligation to take in all lone children coming to the UK by small cross-Channel boats.

Kent took in 1,165 UASC in the first six months of 2024 compared to 624 in the same period last year.

The council currently has only two available reception centres to accommodate the children, while seven new facilities may not be ready for use until later in the year.

This means an expected spike in crossings in the summer months, when the weather is most favourable for crossings, could put massive pressure on Kent’s ability to cope.

Cllr Gough told his cabinet colleagues this morning (July 11): “So far, we have avoided a crisis in terms of capacity being exceeded but it has come close a couple of times.”

The council has been involved in a successful legal action against the last government to enforce the Home Office-backed national transfer scheme (NTS) which compels other councils to take in UAS youngsters.

KCC argued that the NTS was not working properly and placed a disproportionate burden on Kent.

Cllr Gough hopes Ms Cooper, who was appointed to Sir Keir Starmer’s cabinet after last week’s general election, will appreciate the issue as a national one and not confined to Kent as the county of entry.

The Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson, has also been invited to join Ms Cooper “to see the great work being done by KCC’s officers and staff to safeguard the welfare of UAS children, as well as the real challenges faced in doing so”, according to council papers.

Cabinet member of integrated children’s services Sue Chandler warned the council faces a “considerable challenge throughout the summer”.

KCC papers, issued for this morning’s cabinet meeting, state: “The number of children arriving into the United Kingdom along Kent’s coastline continues to place a significant pressure on our children’s services with the number of UAS children arriving in Kent so far in 2024 having been higher than that in 2023.

“In the first six months of 2023, 624 UASC were referred to KCC as opposed to 1,165 in the same period this year.

“Despite the high number of children arriving, between January 2024 and now, KCC accommodated and looked after every UAS child, in many cases pending their transfer to other local authorities via the NTS.”

KCC General Counsel Ben Watts wrote: “KCC has for far too long been expected to shoulder a large and disproportionate burden by itself, to accommodate and care for every UAS child (even on a temporary basis).

“This has meant that KCC has effectively been required to find solutions for a national problem, dictated by global migration patterns, within the very limited resources and tools available to a local authority.

“There is a clear opportunity to now make positive and long-lasting changes and it is the executive’s desire that government engages properly so that this is done outside of the court processes that we have had to resort to most recently.”

Mr Watts told members legal action in 2023 was taken as a last resort.