Hundreds of migrant children have been placed at "significant risk" after being wrongly assessed as adults by the Home Office, according to a damning new report. At least 755 children were incorrectly placed in adult accommodation or detention in 2025 following visual assessments at the border, data from the Helen Bamber Foundation shows.
FOI data reveals scale of misassessment
Freedom of Information data from 85 local authorities in England and Scotland indicates 1,504 referrals to children's services for young people who claimed to be children but were initially sent to adult accommodation. Of the 1,454 cases where an age assessment was conducted, 52% were found to be children, the charity reported. However, the actual number is likely higher as not all councils shared data.
For the first time, the government published age assessment outcomes on Thursday. In the year to March 2026, 6,420 people were assessed, with 43% found to be adults and 57% children. Between July and December 2025, 326 children were initially designated as adults before the decision was overturned, while 377 await a decision.
Charities call for urgent reform
Kamena Dorling, director of policy at the Helen Bamber Foundation, described the publication of data as a "huge step forward" but criticised the Home Office for continuing flawed practices. "These children end up placed with strangers in adult accommodation, in immigration detention, and even in adult prisons. Change is urgently needed to prevent many more children from being harmed," she said.
More than 70 children with disputed ages have been detained for removal to France under the government's "one in, one out scheme," according to Humans for Rights Network. Twenty-six have since been released into children's social services care.
Legal and technological concerns
In March, The Independent revealed a child was charged under a controversial new law for endangering lives in a Channel crossing, despite being assessed as under 18. The Crown Prosecution Service argued the prosecution was in the public interest due to the offence's seriousness.
Former independent chief inspector David Bolt found Home Office officials used factors like "lack of eye contact" to determine age and that children were pressured to declare themselves over 18. Ministers now plan to replace human judgment with AI facial-recognition technology, which charities warn amounts to an "experiment on migrants" with serious consequences.
The Home Office stated: "Robust age assessments are a vital tool in maintaining border security, which is why we are modernising this process by testing fast and effective AI age estimation technology. Where uncertainty on age remains, an individual will be treated as a child."
