Church of England bishops are among those voicing dismay after an understated government announcement said it will end the commitment to provide safety to thousands of lone refugee children in Europe.

The scheme came in under Lord Dubs' amendment to the immigration bill last year and aimed to help some of the estimated 90,000 unaccompanied child asylum seekers across Europe.

But a Home Office announcement said the programme would end in March after just 350 were brought to the UK under the scheme.

Immigration minister Robert Goodwill said 200 children had arrived so far and another 150 would follow before the end of March. But he said no further places were available with local authorities.

A further 700 unaccompanied children have arrived in the UK under separate EU-wide legislation.

Senior Anglican bishops joined a chorus of outrage over the announcement with the Bishop of Durham, the Rt Rev Paul Butler, calling it "deeply disappointing", according to the Guardian.

He said: "Those who worked hard for this understood that the government was committing to up to 3,000 children. The need has not diminished. The survey of local authorities was undertaken several months ago and should at least have been redone before such a decision was made. I hope that the government will reconsider."

Bishop of CroydonJonathan Clark accused ministers of fuelling human trafficking.

"It appears that the government may also be working on outdated information from local authorities as to how many places they will provide – there are plenty of local authorities now saying they could provide for more children," he said, according to the Guardian.

"This appears to be a deliberate decision of will by the government rather than being forced on them and runs against the spirit of Lord Dubs's original amendment.

"But most importantly there is a crying human need from children who will otherwise get into the hands of traffickers. By refusing to help those children you are in effect helping the trafficking industry."

A legal challenge to the government's handling of the Dubs process has already been launched by Help Refugees, a charity working with refugees in Europe. The judicial review will be heard on Friday into whether officials consulted local authorities properly about how many children could be housed.

Announcing the end of the Dubs' programme home office minister Goodwill insisted the government had never committed to a figure and said it would always be dependent on the number of local authority places available.

But Bishop Clark said the amendment had originally proposed 3,000 be accepted and although this was not put into legislation, "ministers signalled that the Government would abide by the spirit of the original amendment.

"There is a huge question over how about 400 is in the spirit of 3,000," he said.

Christian Aid, a humanitarian charity, also condemned the decision and said it sent a worrying message. 

Head of advocacy Tom Viita said: "After Trump's refugee ban in recent weeks, it is shocking to see the UK sending out another deeply worrying message to the rest of the world. Theresa May and her government need to be pulling Trump up, rather than following him downwards.

"The international community, the UK included, needs to find a fair way of sharing responsibility for people forcibly displaced from their homes. We are experiencing global displacement on a level not seen since the Second World War. Poor countries are hosting most people in dire need and here we are once again, one of the richest countries in the world, attempting to shirk responsibility."