THE Home Office has been accused of presiding over a major “child protection issue” after it was revealed more than 1300 children were wrongly judged to be adults by border officials.

New figures show that in the last 18 months, 1300 children were wrongly assessed to be adults by the Home Office, ITV News reports.

The broadcaster said that from January to June 2023, 69 local authorities received 1004 referrals to their children’s services departments for young people who had been sent to adult accommodation or detention.

Of the cases where decisions were made, 57% were found to be children – meaning that in just six months at least 485 children had been wrongly placed in adult accommodation or detention.

ITV News said it had spoken with four young people who had wrongly been judged to be adults, with some claiming that border officials refused to believe the dates of birth shown on ID documents from countries such as Afghanistan.

While in adult detention, teenagers share rooms with older men with no access to education or support from the local authority.

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One teenager, who ITV gave the pseudonym Akhmadzia, said he had fled Afghanistan after the Taliban had regained control following the exit of US and UK forces in 2021.

He said: “I told them: 'I have my ID and I can get it from my country' but they didn’t believe me and they just wrote down my age.'”

The Refugee Council has called the revelations a “scandal” and has accused the Home Office of creating a child protection issue.

Chief executive Enver Solomon told ITV News: "I think it’s incredibly shocking and actually I would say it is a hidden scandal.

"The fact that traumatised children who have come here alone as refugees, are being told they are adults when they are actually children and what’s worse is they are being placed in accommodation with adults.

"They are experiencing harassment, abuse, that has to be a child protection issue."

The boys who spoke to ITV said they had their ages guessed by border officials following brief visual assessments.

A spokesperson for the organisation added: “It’s not acceptable that we’re having flawed age assessments as it has devastating consequences for the young person.

“The Government needs to take urgent steps to correct the failures that are taking place at the moment.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Age assessments can be challenging and there is no single method which can determine a person’s age with precision.

"Many individuals arriving in the UK who claim to be children often don’t have clear evidence like an original passport or identity document to back this up.

“We are strengthening our age assessment process, including establishing the National Age Assessment Board and specifying scientific methods of age assessments.

“Measures under the Illegal Migration Act will ensure the swift removal of individuals who have been assessed as adults and who have no right to remain in the UK.”