Age Assessment

An Age assessment is a process to decide someone’s age for legal purposes. This happens when the authorities (the police or social services or the court) dispute the age a child says they are.

A person’s age may be questioned, for example, because a child does not have a birth certificate or passport. This can happen when children arrive in the UK without parents or carers (unaccompanied minors).

If a person says they are under 18, they should be treated as child until their age can be verified. 

If a person’s age is disputed, the court has the power to determine the person’s age.  The court can consider documentation and hear evidence from witnesses, it should not rely solely on the appearance of the defendant.  In some cases the local authority may carry out an age assessment. 

The fairness of an age assessment is closely linked to its compliance with the “Merton principles” set out in the main judgment in this area.  These require providing the assessed individual appropriate support, taking into account more than just the individual’s physical characteristics and giving the individual the opportunity to respond to matters considered adverse before a decision is reached. 

The assessment is generally carried out by two specifically trained qualified social workers.

Weight of an age assessment in a criminal court

Where an age assessment has been appropriately carried out, age assessments are considered to have some weight by the courts. A criminal court is not bound by a Merton-compliant age assessment, but it should consider the Merton principles carefully.