“They don’t help, they don’t listen”: Children tell their story of age assessments

Social workers say that the National Age Assessment Board (NAAB) operates according to the Home Office’s political agenda, which is felt by the children being assessed.

Professionals at the Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit (GMIAU) have shared quotes from children who have had their ages assessed by the NAAB, as the House of Lords looks at the Border Security, Asylum & Immigration Bill.

Social workers and researchers at the voluntary organisation, which supports people subject to immigration control, say the NAAB carries out assessments that do not follow established age assessment guidance, and therefore make it difficult for children to engage meaningfully in the process.

They also say the process causes distress, ‘re-traumatisation’, and ongoing trust issues for children.

The NAAB was set up in 2022 by the Conservative Government under the Nationality and Borders Act. As part of the Home Office, the board employs social workers to conduct age assessments on the Home Office’s behalf. 

Campaigners, including organisations such as BASW and Social Workers Without Borders, have raised strong concerns about the objectivity of the NAAB, urging policy-makers to instead focus on properly resourcing local authorities so that they can carry out Merton-compliant, social work-led age assessments in a fair and timely manner themselves.

GMIAU says age assessments are a stressful and re-traumatising process that should be avoided if at all possible. However, if age assessments need to be carried out, it believes they are best carried out within the local authority, by social workers who know the young person.

Children spoken to felt the NAAB assessment was hostile, and designed to disbelieve – and crucially was not independent. One child said: “they make you feel from the first time that they’re not going to accept you”. 

In particular, they reported that the same questions were asked again and again over the course of long days and a high number of sessions. They felt this was a tactic aimed at catching them out in a mistake and then using that to undermine their credibility. 

Professionals also said they have seen children’s mental health deteriorate to the point of self-harm and suicidal thoughts as a direct result of NAAB age assessment.

Current ADCS age assessment guidance states that social workers should be sensitive when asking questions. This is crucial to enable children and young people to engage meaningfully in the assessment.

However, many children spoken to described a process that was not child-friendly.

“They told me we are bringing you here to defend yourself, if you don’t answer my questions we will hold it against you. If you say you don’t know or don’t want to answer, we’d consider you are trying to deny this, and we will hold it against you,” one said.

Another said: “They were trying to confuse me and say I’d given a different answer, but I was sure about my answer.”

Guidance on age assessments says that the timing, location and interpreter should all be planned in the child’s best interest, to make them as comfortable as possible to take part.  In local authority assessments, the sessions tend to last 2-3 hours, and children have a say in how often and when they meet.

NAAB assessments, however, are often carried out over a number of full day sessions, sometimes on consecutive days. One young person said his NAAB assessment involved seven different sessions.

“Why three, four, five meetings? It should have been only one, because it’s repetition. I think again they’re trying to trap you because they’re trying to show you say things you didn’t say.”

BASW is currently urging the government to use the opportunity of amending the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill 2025 to abolish the NAAB, to return the responsibility of assessing age solely to the local authority who is looking after the child, and to redirect resources currently spent on the NAAB to local authorities carrying out age assessments.  

Recent research found that the age assessment process has a “profound and harmful impact” on the mental health of unaccompanied children seeking asylum.

A 2024 study by the Helen Bamber Foundation, analysed data of 32 young people whose age was disputed and 52 whose age was not, finding that the children seeking asylum whose ages were disputed showed higher levels of psychological distress, with some even reporting experiencing suicidal thoughts.

Being repeatedly questioned can undermine relationships with social workers and other professionals, damaging trust, and a young person’s sense of identity, the study found.