22 July 2025: ICIBI: An inspection of the Home Office’s use of age assessments
July 2024 – February 2025
This report by David Bolt, Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration – ICIBI, and his team was released today by the Home Secretary:
Conclusions
1.44 Accurately assessing the age of young people is undoubtedly difficult, and many would argue that it is not possible. This inspection has identified a number of improvements that the Home Office can and should make to its assessment processes and practices when making initial decisions on age, but, however much it is able to improve these, it will not satisfy those who believe that assessments based on appearance and demeanour are fundamentally flawed. At the same time, the Home Office will argue that it has to have some means of distinguishing adults from children on first encounter to ensure that the latter receive the protections they need and to which they are legally entitled.
1.45 This inspection does not seek to come down on one side or other of this argument. However, it was evident that, if it wishes to build greater confidence in how it goes about making initial decisions on age, the Home Office needs to involve others (interpreters, social workers, experts, and practitioners in supporting and providing services for children and young people) as much as possible in the process. In the meantime, it might help the debate if both the Home Office and its critics could agree that some migrants lie about their age, and that not to attempt to make some form of initial age assessment risks incentivising more to do so, which is not in the overall best interests of UAS children. It might also be helpful if all parties could accept that the Home Office gets some initial age decisions wrong. Denying this is the case, because these decisions are an opinion, and as such cannot be quality assured, is obtuse and vexing.
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