"There is a range of options open to the home secretary to ensure that unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are accommodated and looked after as envisaged by parliament.Mr Justice Chamberlain said:"Ensuring the safety and welfare of children with no adult to look after them is among the most fundamental duties of any civilised state.
As well as finding the Home Office's use of hotels to house child asylum seekers unlawful, the judge said Kent County Council is acting unlawfully in failing to accommodate and look after unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. He said:"In ceasing to accept responsibility for some newly arriving unaccompanied asylum seeking children, while continuing to accept other children into its care, Kent County Council chose to treat some unaccompanied asylum seeking children differently from and less favourably than other children, because of their status as asylum seekers."
The Home Office and Department for Education had opposed the legal challenges and said the hotel use was lawful but was"deployed effectively as a 'safety net' and as a matter of necessity".