Qaisar Sheikh, Head of Education Law at Coram Children’s Legal Centre (CCLC), was announced as one of the winners of the prestigious Legal Hero Awards 2023 on 7 September. The awards, run by the Law Society, recognise the solicitors who have made the biggest difference to the lives of others, their local communities and society…
Gregg Burrough – Senior Education Solicitor On 29 June 2023, Gregg was awarded an honorary fellowship by Queen Mary University for his dedicated pro bono work with the Queen Mary Legal Advice Centre. Gregg has provided vital advice and support for students in relation to special educational needs issues and disputes for many years and…
There has been an important judgment from the High Court today that found that Kent County Counil had breached their duties under the Children Act 1989 by not accommodating unaccompanied children who arrived in their area. The Home Office were also found to have acted unlawfully in accommodating unaccompanied children who had just arrived in…
Coram Children’s Legal Centre have worked with Coram BAAF, CFAB, Save the Children and FRG to jointly produce a FAQ document regarding children and young people living in kinship care arrangements in England through the Ukraine visa schemes. The Ukranian FAQs document is designed for social workers, advocates and other practitioners working with children and families,…
As Parliament debates the final stages of the Illegal Migration Bill, CCLC says: The Government must keep meaningful limits on child detention We know that locking up infants and children is wrong because we have abolished it once before. In 2011, a Conservative-led government made ending child detention a flagship policy. It was right to do…
The Illegal Migration Bill will be debated tonight during Committee stage in the House of Lords. Peers will debate the controversial reintroduction of child detention after it was ended over a decade ago in a landmark commitment by the Conservative-led Coalition government. Amendments to keep the existing limits on child detention have been tabled by…
On 2 March 2023, the Department for Education (DfE), after much anticipation, issued its SEND Improvement Plan: An initial overview. The plan is a follow-up to the March 2022 green paper SEND Review; Right Support, Right Place, Right Time and explains what the Government intends to do to make sure more children and young people…
Leading children’s organisations and charities have written to the Home Secretary to express concern at plans in the Illegal Migration Bill to reintroduce child detention. They have condemned the child detention proposals in the Bill as ‘immoral’ and in breach of international law. Reneging on ban on child detention The coalition government committed to end…
The UK’s commitment to the Refugee Convention was undermined last year with the Nationality and Borders Act, and this new proposal goes further. It effectively puts a fence up around the UK’s asylum system, with no way in for children and young people seeking safety. Children who come to the UK with their families will…
The Justice and Home Affairs Committee recently published its report All families matter: An inquiry into family migration following its inquiry into family migration in the UK. The aim of the inquiry was to approach family migration policies in the widest possible sense, looking at general trends in the design of family immigration pathways, as well…
CCLC is concerned that the government may change child protection law to become the corporate parent of an unaccompanied asylum-seeking child
We are devastated by the loss of a formidable young campaigner, Aisha Hamzat, who passed away suddenly at the end of 2022. As well as studying at university and working with several different organisations and youth representative bodies, Aisha was employed by CCLC as a Youth Rights Trainer and policy ambassador. Aisha campaigned for the…