Britain is to take an extra 130 unaccompanied child refugees from within Europe under the Dubs scheme after ministers blamed “an administrative error” for not taking up all the offers of places pledged by local councils.

The admission by ministers that they could have taken more children under the scheme is particularly embarrassing as they strongly resisted calls, including from the archbishop of Canterbury, to increase the number in the face of evidence that local authorities had more places than the official limit of 350.

The announcement by the immigration minister, Robert Goodwill, means the number of unaccompanied child refugees in France, Italy and Greece who will be brought to Britain under the Dubs scheme will be increased from 350 to 480 children.

Alf Dubs, who successfully secured the original commitment to take refugee children in Europe, said he was shocked that ministers had now admitted their mistake “after months of dragging their heels all along”.

Lord Dubs said: “It is especially shocking that they have ‘just discovered’ this dreadful mistake after we and the local authorities have been telling them for several months that there were more offers of places.”

Since the Dubs scheme was effectively ended, dozens of vulnerable, potentially eligible children have continued to live rough near Calais, risking their lives by continuing to make dangerous attempts to cross the Channel illegally to reach the UK.

Many more were made homeless by a fire in a refugee camp in Dunkirk this month. Charities working with refugees have faced increasing restrictions on how and when they can offer food and emergency supplies to children traveling alone, making daily life more challenging for child refugees.

The news that their ordeal has been needlessly prolonged by an administrative error was met with anger by organisations working in the sector. Safe Passage, one the campaign groups helping lone refugee children, said the extra places were welcomed but said the mistake showed that the Dubs scheme should be reopened.

“If 130 places can be missed due to an administrative error, and many more councils have since come forward and pledged extra spaces, this clearly demonstrates the need to reconsult with councils on capacity and reopen the Dubs scheme so more children can in future benefit,” said Rabbi Janet Darley, of Safe Passage.



A high court challenge to the way the consultation process that set the original 350-place limit was carried out is due to resume next week.

In a written ministerial statement to MPs on Wednesday, Goodwill said the “government has very recently become aware that, due to an administrative error as part of collating the figures, one region pledged 130 places which were not accounted for in setting the specified number.”

He said that as part of the consultation that led to the 350 figure being set, local authorities were asked to tell their regional strategic migration partnerships how many places they could offer. The Home Office knew that two regions had not provided responses after the consultation closed.

“Both of these regions had already stepped up to take a number of children from over-burdened councils elsewhere in the country so it was assumed they would continue to support the national transfer scheme as and when they could, but were not able to provide specific numbers, which the Home Office could then allocate to section 67 cases [Dubs children],” Goodwill explained.

“The Home Office recently discovered that one of the regions had sent a return and we are now including their pledges in the specified number … the government is now increasing the specified number from 350 to 480. The specified number includes over 200 children already transferred from France as part of the Calais camp clearance.”

The Home Office refused to name the region whose offer of 130 places was overlooked when the original limit was set.

The home secretary has written to her counterparts in France, Germany and Italy as well as the UNHCR to identify and transfer children as soon as possible.

Yvette Cooper, chair of the Commons home affairs select committee, said: “It is welcome that an extra 130 children will be brought to safety in Britain under the Dubs scheme. But it beggars belief that these children weren’t helped earlier because of a basic admin error.

“This shows a shameful failure by the Home Office to talk properly to local councils who were willing and able to help or to check they had counted the figures up right. This shows the Home Office simply hasn’t taken this seriously enough.

“Time and again the select committee and local councils across the country told the Home Office that there were more places available, but they wouldn’t budge and they failed to follow up. Surely on something as important as this, when children are at risk of trafficking and prostitution, they would have checked the numbers were right.”

Cooper added: “This revelation now casts further doubt on the whole consultation process – how many more places could be missing? The home secretary should apologise for this mistake and urgently reopen the consultation, and the Dubs scheme, further so councils and communities aren’t stopped from helping some of the most vulnerable kids in the world.”

Josephine Naughton, one of the founders of Help Refugees which is bringing the high court action said: “We welcome this increase in the Dubs number. Without the scrutiny and disclosure that our litigation forced upon the Home Office, the Home Office’s extraordinary error – missing 130 places for children when it only allocated 350 in total- would not have come to light.

“We think that this is far from the only flaw in the consultation process. We continue to push for the reopening of the consultation process and further revision of the number of these extremely vulnerable children to be admitted.”

The Liberal Democrat leader, Tim Farron, said the alleged oversight by the government meant 130 children who could have been placed in Britain months ago were still languishing in camps in Europe.

“I hope these children are identified and brought to the UK as soon as humanely possible – it is our moral duty and responsibility. The Dubs scheme was opened after huge pressure both in parliament and from the public – we wanted to see 3,000 unaccompanied child refugees offered sanctuary in Britain. Whilst I welcome the fact the government will now take in some more, this is simply not enough,” he said.