Government to use age checks on child asylum seekers despite warnings they don’t work

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy The government will press on with plans to use biological tests to check child asylum seekers’ ages despite an official report finding they cannot prove someone is over 18. It comes after government documents said that child asylum seekers will be restrained if they “resist” forcible deportations to Rwanda and other countries, under plans in the new Illegal Migration Bill. “That is why we are introducing the National Age Assessment Board to set the national standard and ensure assessments are as robust as possible, alongside our commitment to deliver scientific methods to assess age as soon as possible.” In plans first proposed by Priti Patel last year and now backed by her successor Suella Braverman, the government has been looking at different options. “Biological assessment of age should consider whether the age claimed by the UASC is ‘possible’ rather than be used to answer the specific question of how old that person is or whether they are under or over 18.” The report, published in January, concluded that the current interview process should still be the main evaluation method, with biological tests “only performed in cases where the claimed age remains in doubt or there is conflicting or insufficient evidence”.