ADCS Vice-President calls for review of age assessment approach

The Vice-President of the Association of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS) has said a review of how age assessments for unaccompanied children seeking asylum are approached is “long overdue”.

The Nationality and Borders Act 2022 introduced a number of measures to “strengthen and improve” processes for assessing the age of those who are subject to immigration control. The age assessment measures within the Act included the establishment of a National Age Assessment Board (NAAB).

The NAAB conducts age assessments upon referral from local authorities on those subject to immigration control, who do not have sufficient evidence to demonstrate their age.

In a blog on the ADCS website last week, Andy Smith, ADCS Vice President, said that it is so far unclear whether the board will be able to fulfil its purpose given its “limited capacity” and noted the importance of adequate support for local authorities to undertake age assessments.

Smith said: “The number of unaccompanied children who are fleeing desperate situations and seeking asylum in the UK has increased year on year, except for the pandemic period, and we are seeing a high number of age disputes annually. It is important that local authorities are adequately supported to undertake age assessments, this is complex specialist work which requires significant social work resource.

“The National Age Assessment Board (NAAB) was established to do this, but it is yet unclear whether it will be able to fulfil this purpose given its limited capacity. Age assessments must be driven by a child centric approach. The consequences of getting these decisions wrong for children who arrive here alone can mean they don’t receive the services and support they are entitled to.”

He added: “A review of how we currently approach age assessments is long overdue and this should consider the skills and knowledge needed by the workforce to undertake assessments and the opportunities scientific methods can offer whilst also drawing on the experience of local authorities with points of arrival. The last review of our approach to assessing age was in 2015 and is based on case law from 2003, so much has changed since then, and there is new research to draw on. Above all else the care and best interests of children who arrive here alone should be at the heart of any review, reforms and decisions made.”

Lottie Winson