The age of an unaccompanied child is extremely important. It determines a child’s access to education and support, effects the way in which their asylum claim is processed and can even be a decisive factor in a claim for asylum.
Adult asylum seekers and families are entitled to support, including accommodation and essential living needs, from the Home Office. For children seeking asylum, however, support should be provided by the local authority in which they are physically present. This support includes help accessing education that is of an appropriate level, which is highly age-dependent. Read our fact sheet on local authority support for separated children.
Age is central to identity, and the age assessment process can be very damaging for children who are disbelieved. It is extremely important that age assessments are only carried out where there is significant reason to doubt the claimant’s age.
Age determination is an inexact science, and the margin of error can sometimes be as much as five years either side, especially around the time of puberty. There is no single reliable method for making precise estimates, and no conclusive medical test.
Age disputes most frequently arise when an asylum seeker first applies for asylum, for example at a port of entry. If an asylum-seeker’s claim to be a child is doubted by Home Office, and ‘there is little or no documentary evidence to prove their age’, the Home Office will conduct an initial ‘assessment’ of the individual based solely on appearance and demeanour, even though this has been shown to be a flawed method of deciding age.
Home Office policy states that unless the claimant’s physical appearance/ demeanour ‘very strongly suggests that they are significantly over 18 years of age’, they should be treated as a child until a holistic assessment can be made by a local authority.
Even if the Home Office is treating someone as an adult, if a referral is made to children’s services then the local authority must make their own decision as to the young person’s age. The child should be supported as a child whilst the assessment is being undertaken.
A local authority’s assessment must be as full and comprehensive as possible, and conducted in a clear, transparent and fair manner. Before 2015, there was no guidance provided to local authorities on how to conduct an age assessment. Instead the approach taken evolved through practice by local authorities and legal challenges to the process. In October 2015, though, best practice guidance for social workers on conducting age assessments was published by the Association of Directors of Children’s Services. This guidance was co-written by experienced social workers, practitioners and legal experts, and aims to help social workers. This comprehensive guidance can be found here.
If new evidence as to a person’s age arises, this evidence should be presented to the local authority and a fresh assessment should be requested.
If the assessment is not conducted lawfully (for more information on lawful age assessments download the full fact sheet and see the ADCS guidance above), then the process can be challenged by way of judicial review. A full judicial review of an age assessment does not limit the Court to choosing between the child’s claimed age or the local authority’s assessed age: the Court, can come to its own conclusion.
