This report by the Refugee and Migrant Children’s Consortium highlights serious flaws in the UK’s age assessment process for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. It reveals that hundreds of children were wrongly classified as adults by the Home Office, leading to their placement in unsafe adult accommodation or detention.

The report critiques the use of unreliable visual assessments and costly ‘scientific’ methods, arguing that these approaches fail to address the root issue of flawed initial determinations. It also exposes how misleading Home Office data distorts the scale of misclassification.

Key recommendations include strengthening local authority-led assessments, limiting the Home Office’s role in age determinations, and redirecting resources toward better-trained social workers to ensure children receive the protection and support they need.