BASW to co-host event for parliamentarians on Illegal Migration Bill

BASW UK will co-host an online event on 16 May for MPs and Lords on the Illegal Migration Bill and its consequences for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC).

The event is being organised with the Refugee Council and other organisations that are concerned about the impact of the Bill.

The Illegal Migration Bill is currently in the House of Lords having passed the House of Commons last month. Peers voted in favour of the Bill at Second Reading, but as we move towards the Committee stage where amendments can be laid, the details of the Bill are now being considered.

The Bill includes a series of proposals that will affect unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC), including:

  • Detention of children for an indefinite amount of time while the Home Office carries out an age assessment
  • The possibility of border officials being permitted to carry out visual age assessments  
  • Compulsory use of x-rays and MRIs, and the assumption that the young person is over 18 if they do not consent
  • Giving the Home Secretary powers to deport under 18s
  • Giving the Home Secretary powers to accommodate under 18s and to terminate “looked after” status

Read BASW's initial response to the Bill here.

The role of social workers

Social workers are responsible for the age assessment of young people who are, or who claim to be, under 18 and are claiming asylum. This responsibility is not primarily about immigration control; it is about meeting the needs of the child and to provide appropriate care and accommodation, and alongside other professionals, appropriate education and health services.

Age assessments are also used by the Home Office, and others, to help determine the asylum and immigration status of individuals. If the person being assessed is in fact an adult, responsibilities pass to another agency.

Local authorities are currently responsible for accommodating unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC). Both in legal and practical terms UASC are ‘children in care’. Social workers deliver this accommodation and support through the provision of fostering and supported living arrangements. Once a young person is discharged from care at 18, the local authority’s legal responsibilities to provide care and support continue. These duties and responsibilities are enshrined in detailed law and statutory guidance in the four jurisdictions of the UK.

Scientific Age Assessments

Clause 56 of the Illegal Migration Bill says that if a person refuses a scientific age assessment, they should be treated as if they are 18. This is deeply concerning to us.

‘Scientific methods’ of age assessment are presented as a panacea of rigour and certainty. However, the Home Office Independent Scientific Committee has concluded that what they describe as ‘biological methods’ are imprecise, offering only an estimation to between three and five years.

Not only is medical consent overridden but a person could have any number of reasons for refusing such an assessment, including lack of understanding of the tests and trauma related to previous experiences of abuse.

The question of whether the asylum seeker can consent to the medical intervention is completely separate to the question of whether he or she is a child. But the Bill fails to make this distinction and therefore fails to respect the rights of children (and of adult asylum seekers who may have cognitive impairments or mental health problems).

Checks and Balances

Wrongly assessing a child as an adult or an adult as a child is highly damaging. However, at present, there are a series of checks and balances in place both for individual cases and across the system for UASC children. If a person is misplaced, that can be rectified.

But if a child is wrongly assessed to be an adult and they are deported, this cannot be corrected. There is no room for error, yet this is a process where errors can be common. Currently, local authorities have multiple layers of checks and balances in place over the care of children.

In contrast, under the Bill, the Home Office is free to mark its own homework.

The National Age Assessment Board avoids the trickiness of any separation of powers, while the services it may provide are free of any external inspection such as Ofsted.

BASW has advised its members against applying for social worker roles with NAAB due to insufficient safeguards for its independence in the face of political pressure. The Home Office enjoys some distance from the eyes of those who might hold it accountable.

Practical Considerations

Local authorities have decades of experience, expertise and infrastructure (such as foster care placements). The Home Office would be starting from a blank slate, and there is a concern that they cannot meet the demand. Vague reassurances from the Home Office about working closely with local authorities in the provision of services to UASC will lead to confusion and loss of oversight of meeting the needs of children. There are already examples of children and young people going missing from Home Office provided accommodation when the numbers are relatively small.

The Bill will create wide scale injustices which, when brought to the attention of the appropriate agencies, will clog the services of already over-stretched public sector bodies, NGOs and the courts system.

Many of these injustices will be unaddressed causing untold harm to the young people involved, affecting their wellbeing and development, placing them under huge stress and restricting their opportunity to experience life as a child with the protections and rights they should have as a consequence of their age.

If you have any questions or comments on the Illegal Migration Bill, please contact our Policy and Political Affairs Lead on Kerri.Prince@basw.co.uk