Young asylum seekers far more likely to be assessed as adults by immigration officers than by social workers

Home Office data shows that young asylum seekers in the UK are more than twice as likely to be assessed as adults by immigration officers than by social workers. Between July 2025 and March 2026, 4,320 initial age decisions by immigration officials resulted in 1,363 new arrivals (32%) being recorded as children. During the same period, 3,102 age assessments by local authority social workers recorded 1,198 individuals (68%) as children. Immigration officer assessments are typically made quickly with limited or incomplete information, while local authority assessments often take six to eight weeks. The Home Office has a national age assessment board using in-house social workers and is proposing to increase the weight given to its assessments. Visual appearance-based decisions can move people to adult accommodation or detention, and concerns have been raised about pressure to sign documents and about children being wrongly treated as adults.

"Between July 2025 and March 2026, 4,320 initial age decisions made by immigration officials found just 1,363 new arrivals (32%) to be children. During the same period, 3,102 age assessments carried out by local authority social workers recorded 1,198 individuals (68%) as children. The information, which the Home Office is publishing for the first time, comes at a time when some politicians have accused adult asylum seekers of pretending to be children."

"The Home Office says that initial assessments by immigration officers are typically made at pace' often with limited or incomplete information. Local authority age assessments are often conducted over a period of six to eight weeks. The Home Office has established a national age assessment board (NAAB) with its own in-house social workers to conduct age assessments of age-disputed young asylum seekers. It is proposing strengthening the weight given to its own in-house assessments."

"Many children from countries such as Afghanistan, Sudan and Eritrea do not have passports or birth certificates, either because they have never had them, or because they've been destroyed, lost or taken. In thousands of cases, UK border officials decide a person's age based on a visual assessment of their appearance and demeanour. If they think an individual looks significantly over 18, they will move them straight to adult accommodation or immigration detention."

"Last year's report from the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration highlighted a decade of concerns around the Home Office's perfunctory' visual assessments. It found that the Home Office still relied on generic physical characteristics and that young people felt pressured into signing documents stating they were adults. Some children wrongly treated as adults have been charged with immigration offences,"

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