National Register for Unaccompanied Children and BIA Partnership

1. Introduction

The National Register for Unaccompanied Children (NRUC) is an initiative to provide a comprehensive database giving information on unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC) entering the country and ensuring their safety.

The database was the first national database of its kind in the UK and has contributed to the child care agenda through protection of children, tracking, cost and care. The database provides the systems to assist the welfare of young people.

Partners to the project are the Home Office, the DCSF, the Local Government Association (LGA), the London Councils, and local authorities. The project was initially funded through the Invest to Save programme and is now funded by both BIA and local authorities.

The NRUC was planned to facilitate greater communication between the Home Office and local authorities working with children and young people arriving in the UK as asylum seekers. The scheme was planned to manage grants, support migration decisions and deliver a consistent approach to the care of children.

The Treasury contributed £336,467 in 2003-2006 to the initial developments of NRUC. The BIA has contributed to the operation of NRUC around £296,000.

2. Purpose

The NRUC database can:

 Safeguard vulnerable young people through the mapping of UASC receiving local authority support  Provide a single reference point on UASC for local authorities throughout the UK  Provide detailed identity and demographic information on all UK supported UASC including Scotland and Wales  Provides a tracking mechanism to identify cost, support and location of young people which will improve knowledge and ability to plan for services

NRUC is a partnership between local and central government and provides a communications tool between these two agencies.

3. NRUC offers data on:

. Location and status of unaccompanied young people supported by local authorities.

. It prevents duplication of claims in boroughs and counties

. Reconciliation of Home Office records and the local authority records through a secure online service

. Immigration status to determine current eligibility for service and assist in eliminating incorrect payments to the local authorities

. Age assessments to the relevant child’s file

NRUC data can provide:

. Detailed reports on a bespoke basis that can be sourced through a complete Business Objective interface

. A web based grant claim and payments system

. NRUC will be adapted to address the UASC reform programme

. Access to accommodation

4. The implementation of the pilot project will:

. Generate a 5% efficiency in administration

. Provide efficiency savings on care and support . Enables appropriate support to be provided by local government at each stage in the process from arrival to return or independence in the UK

There are 230 contacts within local authority teams with the statutory duty to care for UASC.

100 local authorities are contributing to NRUC.

5. Criteria for Assessment for BIA & NRUC

February 2008

. 90% data matching records of children and young people in Camden, Hillingdon, Kent and Croydon using December 07 returns made by local government Annex A . 90% accuracy for payment of each quarter . Evidence of operation working well through training and joint working . Evidence of IT functionality assessed through monitoring of errors and malfunctions . Satisfactory security achieved through secure web links to Government standards and completion of a risk assessment by BIA and NRUC staff

October 2008

. 95% of cases as above . 95% local authorities claiming (excludes those with less than 10 UASC) . Assessment of savings achieved by BIA and Home Office and local government in the provision of appropriate accommodation and removal of asylum seekers from the UK/into independent living . 5% reduction of staff time allocated to resolving local authority claims for expenditure incurred by local government and the Home Office/BIA provided annually . Assessment of costs of CPB

6. Future

NRUC is working with the DCSF as a data source to integrate UASC data into the Contact Point database. NRUC role will be extended to support identification of missing UASC. Children agencies such as Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), Refugee Council and Red Cross have expressed interest in the benefits of the system to their operations.

NRUC can provide data to support local authorities meeting the data requirements of DCFS.

January 2008