Asylum: More than 1,300 children wrongly assessed as adults, figures show
Child asylum seekers are sharing rooms with older men and have no access to education or support within their local authority, ITV News' Rachel Townsend reports
“Stop the boats” is a slogan plastered over the lectern at Number 10 and repeated regularly by the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
But rarely do we hear the stories of those on the boats, those risking their lives and enduring freezing temperatures to reach British soil.
The risks are well documented and the thought of children taking them is more uncomfortable.
But I've heard from four youngsters - from Sudan, Eritrea and Afghanistan - who all crossed the English Channel to get here and claim they were given a false age by Border Force officers.
Speaking to ITV News, the boys tell us what happened when they arrived in Dover. They've asked us to change their names through fears of repercussions.
“They checked the hairs on my face and they said 'no you are not looking like 17', they said 'you are looking like 26 or something'. I said 'no'”.
Akhmadzia* is from Afghanistan and fled shortly after the Taliban regained control.
“I told them: 'I have my ID and I can get it from my country' but they didn’t believe me and they just wrote down my age.'”
His story resonates with the group.
“I had the same situation in Dover when they interviewed me and asked me about my age," said Adam. "I told them that I am 15 years old and the person didn’t believe me.”
His official ID from Sudan which he's shown me, clearly states his year of birth as 2008.
“He wrote down 35 years old and I was shocked, I am 15 years old, how can you say I am 35?”
As a result, the boys have been placed into adult accommodation; they are sharing rooms with older men and have no access to education or support within their local authority.
The Refugee Council said this is happening right now, to hundreds of children seeking asylum in the UK.
More than 1,300 asylum seeking children wrongly assessed as adults, figures shared exclusively to ITV News show:
From January to June 2023, 69 local authorities received 1,004 referrals to their children’s services department of young people who had been sent to adult accommodation/detention
Of the cases where a decision on age was made, 57% (847) were found to be children - meaning that in just 6 months at least 485 children had been wrongly placed in adult accommodation or detention at significant risk
Taken with the data from 2022, this shows that in 18 months over 1,300 children were wrongly assessed to be adults by the Home Office
The boys tell us that their ages were recorded following a brief visual assessment at the border.
Mohammed* fled from Sudan as civil war tore through his country. He said he had a beautiful life there – before war took that all away.
Once in the UK, he claims Border Force officers failed to provide an appropriate interpreter.
He said he is 17.
“The interpreter was speaking Arabic, but not in an accent that I understood," he said.
"It was not Sudanese Arabic so it was very difficult and I didn’t understand the question. They just told me I was 22."
I asked Mohammed how officers responded when he told them that was not his age.
“There was no interest at all, they just gave me this age and that’s it. They were not bothered about it.”
The Refugee Council accuses the Home Office of creating a child protection scandal by wrongly assessing child asylum seekers as adult.
In a statement to ITV News, a spokesperson for the Home Office 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.”
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Chief Executive Enver Solomon told ITV News: "I think it’s incredibly shocking and actually I would say it is a hidden scandal.
"The fact that traumatised children who have come here alone as refugees, are being told they are adults when they are actually children and what’s worse is they are being placed in accommodation with adults.
"They are experiencing harassment, abuse, that has to be a child protection issue."
The Refugee Council said that because not all local authorities collect the data, the true scale is likely to be even worse.
A spokesperson said: "It’s not acceptable that we’re having flawed age assessments as it has devastating consequences for the young person... The government needs to take urgent steps to correct the failures that are taking place at the moment.”
'Traumatised children who have come here alone are being told they're adults,' said boss of Refugee Council
As a Tigrayan, Faisal* said he was forced to flee Eritrea. He said he is 16 and the Home Office claim he is 23.
“The hotel is full of adults and grown people” he said. “Everyone is smoking, there is a smell inside and outside. I felt unwell there.”
They are not used to the smell of tobacco. As children shouldn’t be. Their days involve very little. They describe them as "endless."
Faisal compares his situation now to his life back home in Eritrea.
“It is difficult days indeed. When you got to school you are busy for 4 or 5 days a week, you see friends and your days are full," he said.
"So it is difficult for me. I am stressed about this false age they gave me. I see my friends who have had their true age accepted, they’re going to school. I feel really depressed about it."
Faisal feels his life is on hold. He wants to carve out a better future for himself but said this false age means he cannot.
“I want to learn the language, you can’t do anything before you learn English. I see friends go to school and study, and I say ‘why not me?’"
The boys have very little to fill their days. They say the boredom is sending them crazy and they see their future disappearing.
“It’s been three months, and nothing,” Faisal continues. "I’ve just lost three months waiting. I could use these three months to start to learn, start to do something.”
The Refugee Council wants the government to establish an independent body to oversee age determinations. They say visual checks are inadequate and the proposed scientific age tests will not work.
“This can only be solved by the government taking responsibility for what is clearly a flawed policy and ensuring that all children whose ages are disputed are referred to independent child protection experts for further assessment. 40
Unwittingly, the boys all demonstrate childlike tendencies. Faisal doodles on his hand during the interview. They say they are children and they are frightened.
We leave them, sitting together, playing a game of snakes and ladders. They have already lost much of their childhood, now they fear the UK’s asylum system will rob them of their future.
*Names were changed to protect the identity of the children
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