More than 1,300 migrant children have been wrongly classified as adults by the Home Office after arriving in the UK, internal figures have revealed.
Flaws in the approach to determining the age of arrivals led to the refugees being placed in unsupervised adult accommodation or detention between January 2022 and June 2023.
In response to freedom of information requests, 69 councils said they received 1,004 referrals of young people who had been sent to adult accommodation or detention between January and June 2023.
Of these referrals, decisions were made on age in 847 cases, with 57 per cent found to be children.
This means at least 485 children were placed at significant risk in adult accommodation in just six months, the report said.
Over 1,300 migrant children have been wrongly classified as adults by the Home Office after arriving in the UK
Over a thousand refugee children were placed in unsupervised adult accommodation or detention from January 2022 to June 2023
Campaigners say the Illegal Migration Act that Rishi Sunak’s Government is attempting to pass could lead to hundreds of children being wrongly removed from the UK
A joint report by the Refugee Council, the Helen Bamber Foundation and the Humans for Rights Network, said the Government’s move to make the asylum system more punitive in recent years had resulted in vulnerable young people being excluded from child protection and welfare frameworks.
They also claim the Illegal Migration Act that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Government is attempting to pass could lead to hundreds of children being wrongly removed from the UK and sent to Rwanda.
The report stated that many may also be sent to countries where they may be at serious risk without ever having interacted with child protection professionals or a chance to challenge the Home Office’s decision,.
The findings are built on data gathered by the Humans for Rights Network between January 2022 and June 2023, which recorded 832 safeguarding episodes when there were ‘strong reasons to believe’ that a minor was sharing accommodation with an unrelated adult.
Of these cases, 406 children have since had their age accepted by local authorities, with a further 123 in care pending an assessment outcome, and 136 receiving legal support in a bid to prove they are under 18.
In addition, the Humans for Rights Network has been unable to contact a further 50 refugees, which the report said raises ‘serious questions about their safety and whereabouts’.
The report added: ‘This shows that in 18 months over 1,300 children were wrongly assessed to be adults by the Home Office.
‘These figures are likely to be an underestimate because not all local authorities collect this data and not all children are being referred to children’s services.’
The report described the Home Office’s approach to assessment as flawed, with officials using a short visual assessment, which can include judgments based on ‘demeanour’, shortly after refugees arrive in the UK.
The report described the Home Office’s approach to assessment as flawed, with officials using a short visual assessment
A view of small boats and engines used to cross the Channel by people thought to be migrants at a warehouse facility in Dover
This is despite the Home Office’s own guidance saying that ‘physical appearance is a notoriously unreliable basis for assessment of chronological age’.
The report highlights that if a person is deemed to be an adult by the Home Office, they are not referred for additional assessment.
This process is said to then lead to children being exposed to ‘significant risks and potential harm’ in unsupervised shared accommodation or asylum detention with adult strangers.
Local authorities are also not routinely informed of their presence, placing the onus on the child to seek support.
The Human for Rights Network said it has identified 15 cases of children wrongly treated as adults being charged with offences under the Nationality and Borders Act, with 14 of them spending time held in adult prisons.
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, called on the Government to take urgent action so children are protected.
He said: ‘Hidden from view, very vulnerable child refugees are being exposed to harm and abuse as a result of inaccurate Home Office decision making.
‘Each case is a child who is being put at risk and whose welfare is being forgotten. It is an alarming child protection failure and the Government must take urgent action so every child is kept safe.’
Maddie Harris, director of Humans for Rights Network, said children have spent up to seven months in adult prisons.
She added: ‘These children are terrified and continue to be profoundly affected by this experience of wrongful criminalisation, which is a direct result of flawed Home Office decision-making at the point of arrival and a profoundly harmful policy of criminalising asylum seekers for the act of arrival in the UK.’
Kamena Dorling, director of policy at the Helen Bamber Foundation, said Government plans to assess young refugees using x-rays will not address the problem.
‘It will simply cause further harm to those seeking protection in the UK. What we need is urgent change to the flawed policy of officials assessing age on sight,’ she added.
The report included testimony from child migrants affected by being treated as adults, whose names were changed to protect their identity.
A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, from a Border Force vessel
Campaigners claimed some children have spent up to seven months in adult prisons
Describing his experience, Jamal, 16, from Afghanistan said: ‘They said I was 25. I felt sad and shocked.
‘I’m 16 years old. I’ve been in the hotel about two months. I live alone here, with adults, I don’t have money, I’m worried about the future, I don’t feel good at all.’
Helen, 16, from Eritrea, was rescued from a small boat but was treated with suspicion by officials.
She said: ‘First of all they asked in a group, then when I said my age they said to me you are lying, so they took us to a private room and a lady asked me some different questions. She said ‘OK, your age, I can guess your age is 22’.
‘She said because you arrive by boat, you must know what you are doing, therefore you are over 18.’
A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘Age assessments can be challenging and there is no single method which can determine a person’s age with precision.
‘Many individuals arriving in the UK who claim to be children often don’t have clear evidence like an original passport or identity document to back this up.
‘We are strengthening our age assessment process, including establishing the National Age Assessment Board and specifying scientific methods of age assessments.
‘Measures under the Illegal Migration Act will ensure the swift removal of individuals who have been assessed as adults and who have no right to remain in the UK.’