Recommendation 32

HM Government Accepted

The Home Office has made significant progress with regards to protecting the welfare of UASC. In line with the direction of the court, the Home Office closed all remaining emergency UASC hotels by January 2024 and arriving UASC are placed in the care of the local authority. Additionally, to support local authorities caring for UASC, incentivised funding has been made available during peak arrival periods to ensure the timely transfer of children to their long-term placements. We have also built and maintained strong and productive relationships with key partners including the Office of the Children’s Commissioner and Kent County Council to ensure the welfare of these children remains at the forefront of our work. The Home Office recognises the vital importance of safeguarding children within the asylum system and is committed to strengthening how age dispute cases are identified and managed. The statutory responsibility for child welfare rests with the local authorities. The Home Office plays an enabling role in ensuring risks are identified early, escalated appropriately (and in accordance with Home Office Policy), and managed effectively. To ensure this, the accommodation providers understand the correct escalation routes when an asylum seeker in adult accommodation claims to be a child, and that safeguarding responsibilities are met in practice. The Minister recently clarified this policy with the Home Affairs Committee (letter dated 10 November 2025). Our National Age Assessment Board (NAAB) social workers are also available to conduct age assessments if the local authority requests assistance. Work is underway to embed robust Standard Operating Procedures across this area. Engagement with accommodation providers, Migrant Help, and NGOs is helping to strengthen collaboration and ensure consistent handling of age dispute cases. Alongside this, we are developing clearer protocols for sharing information with local authorities to support timely risk assessments and safeguarding interventions – a new area of focus design to give statutory partners the tools they need to protect vulnerable individuals. In response to the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration’s report and recommendations on the Home Office use of age-assessment, we have completed our review of information shared with accommodation providers and are content that current arrangements are appropriate. Providers receive timely case-level updates through daily travel lists and Secure Communications Forms (SCF), supported by targeted safeguarding information aligned with National Asylum Allocation Unit (NAAU) guidance, enabling proportionate risk assessments and safe placement decisions. In the government’s Immigration White Paper, published in May 2025, we committed to strengthening the age assessment process. Since then, the Home Office has commissioned trials to explore how artificial intelligence technology can improve the process. Early assessment suggests that Facial Age Estimation is effective and could produce workable results much quicker than other potential methods, such as bone X-rays or MRI scans, and at a fraction of the cost. Finally, governance and oversight remain central to our approach. Safeguarding audits and contractual levers are used to monitor provider compliance with guidance and training requirements, providing assurance that safeguarding responsibilities are consistently met across the estate.