Home Office sends migrant children to ex-RAF base in breach of its own rules

The Home Office has sent child asylum seekers to a former RAF base despite a pledge to councils not to move anyone claiming to be under 18 there.

i revealed this week that the Government had promised local authorities that asylum seekers who had been classified as adults but claimed to be children would not be sent to RAF Wethersfield in Essex, which has been converted to Home Office accomodation.

It said the same rules would apply to the Bibby Stockholm barge in Dorset and the migrant site at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire.

But the Humans for Rights Network (HFRN) said it had identified 15 children who were wrongly classed as adults and living at Wethersfield.

Of these, five have now been taken into children’s social services and are living in care, another has had their age definitively accepted as a minor, and the other cases are still undergoing age verification by the National Age Assessment Board, the charity said.

Two had proof of their age when arriving in the UK, one of which was a birth certificate, but were allegedly refused the chance to show them to immigration officials, according to HFRN.

Fifty five per cent of age dispute cases in the past three years were found to be children, Home Office data shows.

Care4Calais, another refugee charity which supports asylum seekers living at the former RAF base, said it had worked to get 10 minors transferred out of Wethersfield to hotels and was “aware of other minors” that have been sent to the site.

It is not clear whether these are the same as the 15 cases recorded by HFRN or additional.

In a letter to Dorset Council – where the Bibby Stockholm barge is situated – dated July 2023 and seen by i, the Home Office confirmed that it would “flex” its rules and stop sending asylum seekers who claim to be children to RAF Wethersfield, the Bibby Stockholm, or RAF Scampton when it becomes operational.

It said this was to prevent additional pressure on local councils, who take responsibility for asylum seekers found to be children in their area.

But all 15 asylum seekers who were involved in an age dispute arrived at Wethersfield between September and December 2023, several months after the pledge was made to local authorities, according to HFRN.

The asylum seekers are all believed to have maintained that they were children from their arrival in the UK, and before their move into Wethersfield, though the exact dates of the age disputes being raised is not known.

What are age disputes?

When someone who says they are a child arrives in the UK and claims asylum, Border Force officers are able to reclassify them as an adult and give them a new date of birth if they do not believe the age given.

Officials have been accused of changing dates of birth based solely on an initial visual assessment, often lasting just minutes, shortly after the asylum seekers arrive on UK shores, despite the fact some have ID documents showing they are under 18.

While the age of a person is usually determined by the documents they arrive with, many asylum seekers don’t arrive with definitive documentary evidence, which charities say is often due to the circumstances they’re fleeing such as the outbreak of war.

Where there are doubts about the stated age, an initial age assessment is conducted at the border, and Border Force can change an individual’s age if two officers believe that their physical appearance and demeanour “very strongly suggest” they are over 18.

From then, the individual will be entered into the adult asylum system, with an i investigation last year finding that many are moved to adult accommodation or even faced with deportation to Rwanda, despite maintaining that they are minors.

The asylum seekers can appeal against the age given to them by Border Force – this is known as raising an age dispute – with professionals undertaking extensive interviews and assessing evidence to determine their real age.

Of the 8,766 age dispute cases decided between the start of 2020 and September 2023, 55 per cent were found to be children, according to Home Office figures.

Home Office sources said that if there is doubt about the age, the individual will be treated as a child pending further assessment by the National Age Assessment Board, and that the wellbeing of children in the Home Office’s care is their utmost priority.

The Home Office is considering introducing scientific assessment measures such as X-rays to help with age assessments, although scientists have warned this can be inaccurate.

Charity workers specialising in age dispute cases said it was unusual for the dispute not to be raised from the start of the asylum claim, but that how and when age disputes are recorded by the Home Office is not clear or publicly available.

Maddie Harris, founder of HFRN, said that the sending of age-disputed asylum seekers to Wethersfield could be a example of “the right hand not talking to the left”, with those deciding on Wethersfield admissions not being made aware of the age issues.

But Ms Harris claimed there was a “total absence of safeguarding” for vulnerable individuals – including those who say they are children. She said that HFRN had raised several safeguarding referrals for individuals at Wethersfield with the Home Office and not received a response.

i revealed last year that Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick had blocked a charity from supporting asylum seekers at the accommodation in Essex, preventing aid workers from providing individuals with clothing and haircuts onsite.

Asylum seekers staying at the site have staged protests at the conditions in recent months, with some allegedly going on hunger strike.

Charities supporting those at Wethersfield said that there have been a number of suicide attempts and some individuals have tried to set themselves on fire.

An ambulance was called to the former RAF base an average of once a day last month, with individuals taken to hospital in eight cases.

RAF Wethersfield is not an immigration detention centre and the Home Office insists that asylum seekers are able to leave the site at will. However, many have complained at being cut off from the rest of the population and say are struggling to access the facilities they need as the site is two miles from the nearest village.

The asylum seekers claimed they find it difficult to travel freely, with a limited minibus service running to neighbouring towns such as Braintree and Chelmsford.

RAF Wethersfield has on-site medical care, spaces for worship and recreational activities.

Steve Smith, CEO of Care4Calais said that “despite their assurances”, the Government was “continuing to send unaccompanied asylum seeking children to these sites.”

“The Government’s disregard for asylum seekers’ wellbeing, and their own accommodation policy, is why we have launched our legal challenge against the use of the former airbase at Wethersfield,” he said. “These sites are severely impacting people’s mental health, and it’s particularly shocking that minors are being sent to them.”

Refugee Action said that RAF Wethersfield and other “de facto detention sites” can have “a catastrophic effect on people seeking asylum and they must be closed immediately and completely.”

“The winners in this race to the bottom are the private companies who are making hundreds of millions of pounds in profit from running the asylum accommodation system. The Government must house people in our communities and fund local authorities to run asylum housing so every penny of this money is spent protecting refugees and strengthening services we all rely on.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We remain committed to the relocation of asylum seekers into large accommodation sites, working towards reaching full capacity while prioritising their welfare and integration.

“Age assessments are vital. When there is doubt about an individual’s claim to be a child, they will be referred to social services for further assessment and treated as a child during this time.”

The Home Office continues to engage with local authorities to help them meet their statutory obligations to unaccompanied minors.