40 migrant children still missing from UK asylum hotels

Forty unaccompanied migrant children who disappeared from UK asylum hotels remain unaccounted for, according to a parliamentary report published on Thursday, August 27, 2026. The Joint Committee on Human Rights expressed extreme concern that these children, part of a larger group that went missing from Home Office accommodation in previous years, have still not been located.

The report follows a government disclosure in June that a total of 472 children had gone missing from asylum accommodation, with 432 subsequently found. The remaining 40 are not new disappearances but represent an unresolved subset from a cohort that first drew intense scrutiny several years ago. The committee welcomed that most children had been found but stated it remained extremely concerned about those who had not.

The issue stems from the government's use of hotels to accommodate lone child asylum seekers, a practice the High Court ruled unlawful in 2023. At the time, the government argued that a sharp increase in Channel crossings left it with no alternative but to use hotels temporarily while local authority placements were secured. More than 440 unaccompanied children were reported missing from these...