“They don’t help, they don’t listen, they’ve got their own answers. They don’t come to understand you”
Summary
At GMIAU, we support children who have had their ages assessed by the Home Office’s National Age Assessment Board (NAAB). Their experiences have rarely been heard. We spoke to children and found that the NAAB:
- Operates according to the Home Office’s political agenda, which is felt by the children being assessed
- Carries out assessments that do not follow established age assessment guidance, and therefore make it difficult for children to engage meaningfully in the process
- Causes distress, retraumatisation, mental health crisis, and ongoing trust issues for children
We are joining calls for the NAAB to be abolished.
What is the NAAB?
The National Age Assessment Board was set up in 2022. It is part of the Home Office and employs social workers to conduct age assessments on the Home Office’s behalf. Organisations like ours have questioned the Home Office’s involvement in the age assessment process. The British Association of Social Workers (BASW) has warned against “attempts by the Home Office to centralise and take control of age assessments”, and raised concerns that “this could lead to age assessment work being influenced by political priorities… with worrying implications for child welfare”.
Prior to the NAAB being set up, the vast majority of age assessments were carried out by social workers in the child’s local authority. 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, they are best carried out within the local authority, by social workers who know the young person. There is an existing framework and published guidance to help social workers to carry out these assessments in a holistic and child-friendly way.
Children’s experiences of the NAAB
- Children we spoke to felt the NAAB assessment was hostile, and designed to disbelieve. 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.
- They did not feel the NAAB was independent.
- As professionals, we have seen children’s mental health deteriorate to the point of self-harm and suicidal thoughts as a direct result of NAAB age assessment.
Hostile approach
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. The children we spoke to described a process that was not child-friendly:
- “They were trying to trap you.”
- “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.”
- “They kept saying I am angry. I think they meant to do that to me – they make me angry.”
- “They ask many questions about how you left, what you’ve done, what was your journey -then they ask again and again – you feel quite angry, because you’ve been asking me about this before.”
- “They are not clear at all.”
- “They were trying to confuse me and say I’d given a different answer, but I was sure about my answer.”
The types of questions children were asked also made the assessment difficult for them. They reminded us that some of their experiences are difficult to talk about, and said they’d been asked about them repeatedly.
- “They asked me questions – I never understand why people would ask me these questions. Questions they have no right to ask me.”
- “They ask me many questions which I’ve never heard before and they kept repeating the same questions.”
- “I was really annoyed and very sad because they kept reminding me of my family member who I lost.”
- “I’ve been telling them don’t ask me about my mum, and they were insisting to ask about my mum.”
Length and number of sessions
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 well carried out 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 are often carried out over a number of full day sessions, sometimes on consecutive days. One young person told us his NAAB assessment involved seven different sessions. We have seen this impact the mental health of the children we are supporting. The group explained:
- “Why 3, 4, 5 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”.
- “I complained, I said I’m fed up, I’m not going to come back, I’m tired. I was crying in front of them, and they were irritating me more and more. I think it’s immoral.”
- “(The NAAB assessment was) very very tiring. Sometimes I didn’t sleep well, and they kept repeating the same questions.”
The group also had issues with interpreters:
- “I’m sure the interpreter wasn’t understanding me completely in all the age assessment sessions I did. I’m 100% sure. When I said I wanted Sudanese interpreter they said there were no Sudanese interpreters. I had to repeat things to him two or three times. I know he mistranslated what I said because the next time they said, “you said that and that and that”, which I didn’t say, so I knew there was mistranslation.”
NAAB social workers usually have to travel to conduct assessments. We believe their limited availability may be the reason behind the long sessions and reported reluctance to find a new interpreter.
Non-independent assessments
The group said that they would prefer the sessions to take place in their home, like their usual meetings with their social worker, and that it would be better for their own social workers to do the assessment.
- “She knows you, and also, she would come to your home, not taking you like they’re detaining you. She said that I’m young, but the Home Office refused to believe.”
- “They take you by car, it’s like they are taking you to court or the detention centre. Why can’t they do it at home?”
- “And they should come to me at home, they should make me feel safe and comfortable, not taking me to a strange place.”
Children also said that though NAAB social workers told them they were independent of the Home Office, they did not feel they were.
- “Could it be someone independent. Because I think they’re all in the same net.”
- “You can’t trust them.”
- “From the first time, you feel that they are against you. This is their intention, to end with the report that you are an adult.”
Actions
BASW are 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.
Follow their policy updates to keep up to date with their work and actions you can support.
We do not believe a NAAB age assessment is ever in the best interests of a potential child. We are asking Greater Manchester local authorities to ensure children are safeguarded by:
- Not using the NAAB, and making efforts to carry out age assessments themselves (if one is necessary). Training is available from Immigration Social Work Services.
- Resisting the Home Office’s attempts to force the use of a NAAB assessment.
Our information sheet, about our concerns with the NAAB and its impact on children and on local authorities, can be downloaded here.