FORTY children remain missing from asylum-seeker hotels and could have become victims of trafficking or exploitation, MPs warned today.

More than 400 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children went missing from Home Office hotels, it emerged in 2023. 

The Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) said today that 40 of the youngsters, two of whom remain under 18, had still not been found as of June. The use of hotels to house lone child asylum-seekers was banned in 2023.

Last year then border security and asylum minister Dame Angela Eagle told the committee that some of those found were “located in exploitative situations and may have been trafficked or victims of other forms of exploitation.”

The JCHR said that it continues “to be extremely concerned about the fact that some children who went missing from asylum hotels in previous years remain missing.”

It called on the Home Office to “make clear what specific action is being taken to locate these children, to investigate the causes for them going missing, and to avoid unaccompanied asylum-seeking children going missing in the future.”

England’s Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza said: “The disappearance of these children represents an unacceptable failure, and the government must set out the action it is taking to locate those still missing and prevent this happening again.”

A government spokesperson said: “The safety and wellbeing of children is paramount, and we take any child going missing extremely seriously.

“Police forces are responsible for investigating missing children cases and we continue to review our records, share relevant information with them and work closely with local authorities and safeguarding partners to support those investigations.”

The latest Home Office figures show that the number of asylum-seekers being housed temporarily in hotels stood at 16,021 at the end of June 2026.

This is down 50 per cent year-on-year from 32,041 and the lowest figure since data was first reported in 2022.

Refugee Council chief policy analyst Jon Featonby warned the “figures hide a concerning story … Over the past year, the government has shut down vital routes for people to apply for asylum safely and legally, but they have not created anything to bridge the gap.”

Care4Calais’s head of advocacy and public affairs Charlotte Khan said: “These children were meant to be under the care of the state, yet the government at the time dumped them in hotels with little to no safeguarding checks.

“This remains a scandalous failure of child protection. It is one of the most egregious examples of how those in power treat refugees, even child refugees, with total disregard.

“Close to 500 children have been affected by this failure, and every resource available should be committed to locating the 40 who are still missing. Those who were in power, and who took these decisions at the time, should be held accountable for the damage they have done to hundreds of children.”