Concerns raised over possible misclassification of children as adults as Home Office’s new hotel ‘maximisation’ policy begins
Child asylum seekers are being forced to share hotel rooms with adults, as the Home Office’s new hotel “maximisation” programme begins doubling the capacity of refugee hotels by putting two strangers in roomsspaces that were previously single occupancy, a charity has warned.
The Refugee Council has warned that frequent misclassification of child refugees as adults at the UK border is exposing them to serious safeguarding risks, with the dangers heightened by the government’s new drive to reduce the cost of hotels by introducing a room-sharing policy.