Home Office report reveals 56% of asylum seekers who claimed to be minors were actually over 18
More than half of small boat migrants who claimed to be children in 2024 were later assessed to be adults, according to a damning report that exposes significant failures in the UK’s age assessment process.
The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, David Bolt, found that 56 per cent of individuals who claimed to be under 18 upon arrival were subsequently determined to be adults or admitted they were 18 or over. The report criticises immigration staff for showing a “lack of curiosity” about the real age of asylum seekers arriving across the Channel.
In response to the findings, the Government has announced plans to roll out artificial intelligence technology in 2026 that can accurately assess ages. Currently, anyone claiming to be under 18 is treated as a minor unless they appear “significantly” older.
Controversial Cases Highlighted
The report details several troubling cases where obvious adults were given the benefit of the doubt. In one instance, an Iranian national with grey hair was treated as a child despite assessors believing he was approximately 22 years old.
The environment at Western Jet Foil, and the physical and mental condition of the migrants after a long, arduous, and perilous journey, make the already difficult task of assessing age even more challenging,” Bolt stated in his report published on Tuesday.
A Vietnamese national was initially accepted as a child because workers said he had a “soft face”, despite another officer raising concerns about his “developed shoulders”, “huge hands” and “tiny bit of stubble.
The report reveals that assessors receive two-day training that “instructs officers that they should always give the benefit of the doubt to the individual where they are not sure about someone’s claimed age and do not judge them to be significantly over 18.
Physical Characteristics Used in Assessments
Immigration officials have relied on various physical characteristics to determine age, with “arrogance” even being cited as a sign of adulthood in some assessments. The report acknowledges the inherent difficulties in the process.
“It is inevitable that some decisions will be wrong without a foolproof test of chronological age,” the watchdog noted. “This is clearly a cause for concern, especially where a child is denied the rights and protections to which they are entitled.”
Between January 2023 and January 2025, 20 out of 59 cases where individuals were sent to Manston processing centre as adults were later returned to Western Jet Foil and accepted as children, highlighting the inconsistency of the current system.
AI Technology to Transform Process
Dame Angela Eagle, Minister for Border Security and Asylum, announced that facial age estimation technology will be trialled later this year, with full integration into the age assessment system planned for 2026.
Accurately assessing the age of individuals is an incredibly complex and difficult task, and the Home Office has spent a number of years analysing which scientific and technological methods would best assist the current process, including looking at the role that Artificial Intelligence technology can play,” Eagle said in a written statement.
The technology has been “trained on millions of images where an individual’s age is known” and offers “a potentially rapid and simple means to test their judgements against the estimates produced by the technology”.
Eight Key Recommendations
David Bolt made eight recommendations to the Home Office, all of which have been accepted by the Government. These include reviewing officer training by the end of the year and improving guidance on age assessment procedures.
The report found “a surprising lack of curiosity about decisions that were subsequently disputed and overturned” and criticised the “prevailing view that there was no learning to take from these later assessments”.
A procurement process is currently underway for the AI technology, with testing due to begin later this year. If successful, facial age estimation could be fully integrated into the current system “over the course of 2026”, according to the minister.
Concerns from Refugee Groups
The Refugee Council welcomed the Government’s response but expressed caution about using AI to determine ages. Chief executive Enver Solomon said: “We welcome the decision to abandon intrusive scientific methods like X-rays and MRI, which we have long called for, but we are not convinced that replacing them with AI tools is the answer.”
“These technologies continue to raise serious questions about accuracy, ethics and fairness. We call on the Government to implement reforms that prioritise professional assessments led by trained social workers.”
The British Association of Social Workers echoed these concerns, with a spokesperson stating: “While we all want solutions that are faster and simpler, the reality is that assessing age is a complex process which should not be open to shortcuts.”
Impact on Services and Safety
The consequences of incorrect age assessments are significant. Unaccompanied children seeking asylum receive different treatment from adults, including placement with local authority children’s services, accommodation, support and education. They are also not subject to detention.
There has been widespread concern that some adults exploit the system by claiming to be children to access these benefits. The issue has become particularly acute with the increase in small boat arrivals across the Channel.
In 2024, asylum seekers arriving by small boats accounted for 37,000 arrivals, representing a 25 per cent increase from 2023. Almost all small boat arrivals claim asylum, with 95 per cent doing so upon arrival.
Current Process Under Scrutiny
The National Age Assessment Board (NAAB), established in 2022, employs 42 social workers to conduct age assessments. However, the report reveals that many long-standing concerns about policy and practice remain unaddressed.
For small boat arrivals some of these concerns had increased,” the report notes, adding that there was insufficient focus on learning from disputed cases that were later overturned.
The Home Office has accepted all recommendations from the report, including commitments to evaluate initial age decision training and publish clearer guidance on the processes required before someone signs a “statement of age” form.
As the Government prepares to implement AI technology, the debate continues over how to balance child protection with preventing abuse of the asylum system. The challenge remains finding a method that accurately identifies genuine children whilst preventing adults from exploiting protections designed for minors.
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Image Credit:
HMCPV ‘Eagle’ Border Force patrol vessel off Broadstairs, Kent, England – Photo by David Anstiss, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
