The purpose of this page is to pull together pieces of guidance and caselaw in one place. You don’t need to know all of this to help a young person, but it can be helpful.

There are two pieces of information that are important guidance when thinking about how an assessment should be conducted

• **ADCS non-statutory guidance,** which is good practice guidance for frontline social workers on how to conduct an age assessment. An updated version is due to be published in early 2025.
• There is also a body of case law – which has come about when age assessments have been challenged in court – which gives guidance on the process required. ADCS covers caselaw in pages 58-62, in addition to the below.

Why is this useful to me?

It is helpful to know a little about terms frequently used in the area of age assessment - such as “Merton compliant”. It can be helpful to refer to ADCS guidance and caselaw when pointing out to other professionals why a particular age assessment, or specific practice, is wrong or in some cases unlawful.

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For example, it is obvious to most people that if a young person can’t understand their interpreter, an assessment can’t be conducted fairly. However, it makes a stronger argument to back that point up with how it breaks with guidance and caselaw (see below for more).

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What is “Merton”?

R (B) v London Borough of Merton [2003] is the most important case for setting out the approach of a lawfully compliant age assessment. In the Merton case, the judge set down broad guidelines of how age should be assessed. The judge confirmed that the local authority “cannot simply adopt a decision made by the Home Office” and set out the following basic requirements of a lawful age assessment:

1. A decision cannot be made only on the basis of appearance. It should take into account the young person’s appearance, behaviour, background and credibility.
2. Where an interpreter is required, it is preferable for him or her to be present during the interview.
3. Any assessment should take into account relevant factors from the child's medical, family and social history. The decision maker should try to establish the general background of the child - including family circumstances and history, educational background and activities during the previous few years. Ethnic and cultural information may also be important.
4. The young person should be given an opportunity during the assessment to address anything the decision maker was “minded to” hold against him – known as a minded-to process.
5. If the decision maker is left in doubt, the young person should receive the benefit of that doubt.
6. Age assessments must be conducted by experienced trained assessors and that all the safeguards to ensure fairness are in place.
7. The decision makers must give adequate reasons if they decide that the individual is not a child.

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In practice “Merton assessment” is sometimes used just to describe a longer age assessment undertaken by local authorities when a child is in their care, as opposed to a short form assessment. It is important to remember that saying an assessment is a “Merton assessment” or “Merton compliant” doesn’t necessarily mean it actually is.

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