On this page:

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A child who has been deemed to be an adult has important rights. You can help to make sure they know about these and have access to them.

They have a right to:

Age assessment: Fair and accurate age assessment by the Local Authority, even if the Home Office says they are an adult.
Social care: Right to be placed into care - Children’s services - while waiting for an age assessment by the Local Authority or for a court to decide their age.
Legal representation: Right to seek legal advice and representation (covered by Legal Aid) to challenge a Local Authority’s age assessment that incorrectly says they are over 18.

Minimum standards

There are many different types of support you can offer a young person going through the age dispute process, we have captured some of the main ones in the boxes below.

Minimum standards

These are actions that we think almost everyone can take when they encounter an age disputed child, even if they have very little capacity or knowledge of the topic.

These actions are:

Seek consent to take child’s personal details (if not already done)
Gather their relevant information: full name, current address, accommodation type, phone number, any health issues, date of birth, date of birth given by Home Office, Home Office/Port reference number
If the child hasn’t seen a Local Authority yet make a ‘Child in Need’ referral. Use our template letter and for more guidance see here.
If child has already been given a Local Authority age assessment of any kind, make a referral to a Community Care or Public Law solicitor ****and an expert casework service.
Provide child with resources for young people and specifically point them to the “How to get help” section within the document. </aside>

Please keep reading to learn about all the ways you can support an age disputed child and go beyond the minimum standards.

Remember that all support is important and valued.

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The process and where you can help

In simplistic terms the process looks as follows:

In orange - the stages of the age assessment process you may find the young person in:

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You might encounter a child in one of the three following scenarios:

Child has only had a Home Office assessment at the Border, hasn’t had a Local Authority one
Child has had a short form Local Authority assessment, normally conducted in adult accommodation