From:



Dear Chief Executive

Re: Serious concerns requiring immediate action in relation to Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) – Placed with Principal Housing Care LTD within the area of Sandwell.

We have recently found that there maybe as many as 230+ UASC aged between 16-18+, some with children of their own, living in Sandwell having been placed by a private organisation, Principal Housing Care Limited from other local authorities. A small number of the 230 young people, 12, have been placed by Sandwell MBC.

Sandwell Strategic Housing in conjunction with Children’s Services have found a number of the properties used by the above company to be sub-standard and have raised serious concerns about the care and wellbeing of the young people living in them. Principal Housing Care responded by notifying my authority that they were no longer prepared to work with us and asked that we remove our 10 (there were 12 placed) young people. We immediately put together a task force yesterday and have today moved all 12 young people to alternative accommodation, which provides basic standards and appropriate support. Colleagues in Housing are now considering the full range of enforcement activity available.

My authority is not in a position to know which other authorities have children placed with Principal Housing Care Limited because we only receive a limited number of notifications. Therefore as a matter of urgency it will be necessary for you to immediately review the placement arrangements of your UASC and consider what action you need to take in order to safeguard the welfare of those children placed with Principal Housing Care Limited. It is important to know that our information suggests that this organisation appeared to be registered at one address in Beeches Road, West Bromwich, and this accommodation is too small to accommodate all the young people so we understand the Beeches Road property acts as a clearing house with the young people then moved on to other accommodation.

In addition to this immediate action can you also please confirm with me if Principal Housing Care Limited is an approved provider with your authority. Also, we would like to know if you have placed any other UASC in the borough of Sandwell with other housing providers. We need the following information relating to the UASC you have placed in Sandwell to ensure we can help maintain a proper overview of standards.

- Nationality and language
- Age
- Gender
- Siblings/Dependants
- Name of placing agent
- Home Office Reference Number and Asylum Application Number
- Lead contact details from your authority
- Details of where this information has been sent in the past
- Details of contact/support provided by yourself and that delivered by your commissioned provider

Please note this does not detract in anyway from your statutory duty to safeguard / support any children you have placed outside of your own authority.

I have also notified regional CSCI and GOWM children’s advisers to ensure that the inspectorate is informed of the cause of concern and the immediate action we are taking to safeguard our own young people, so it would be reasonable to expect that they will require similar information from other authorities who have placed children with this organisation in Sandwell or elsewhere.

We believe this is not just a regional matter, but must be of national concern. As a result, we are about to contact John Coughlan, President of ADSS (President elect ADCS) to explore how we establish a co-ordinated and monitored approach to this. We are also writing to the Home Office for guidance on how to manage the monitoring and tracking of placements/sharing of information relating to these and other similar potentially vulnerable placements.

We look forward to hearing from you and in the event you require further information then please contact me.

Yours sincerely

Andrea Pope-Smith Colin Tucker
Director of Adult Services & Health Director of Children’s Social Care

cc
Allison Fraser, Chief Executive, Sandwell MBC
Copies sent to Roger Crouch (GOWM) and Barbara Skinner (CSCI)
Cllr William Thomas, Leader Sandwell MBC
Cllr Darren Cooper, Lead Member for Children’s Services

From:

CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE’S SERVICES

Colin Tucker, Director for Children’s Services
PO Box 41
Shaftesbury House
402 High Street
West Bromwich
B70 9LT

Telephone: 0121-569 2200
Facsimile: 0121-553 1528
E-mail:  childrenand_youngpeoplesservices@sandwell.gov.uk
Minicom: 0121-553 5933
Web: ttp://www.lea.sandwell.gov.uk