The Home Office has awarded a contract to deploy artificial intelligence facial age estimation technology to assess disputed ages among young asylum seekers arriving in the UK, triggering immediate opposition from a coalition of more than 100 children's rights and refugee organisations.

The technology would analyse facial photographs taken of small-boat arrivals at Dover, generating an age estimate within seconds. Critics say the approach carries serious risks for children who may be wrongly classified as adults and placed in adult detention facilities or accommodation.

Age assessment of unaccompanied young asylum seekers has long been contested. Under the current system, assessments are carried out both by immigration officers at the border and by social workers. Home Office data shows that young asylum seekers are more than twice as likely to be recorded as children by social workers than by immigration officers. The majority of lone child asylum seekers arriving in the UK are aged 16 or 17, placing them in an age range where errors carry significant consequences.

The government has framed the technology as a tool to prevent adults from fraudulently claiming to be minors. Alex Norris, the minister for border security and asylum, said adults making false age claims had "exploited the system and diverted vital support away from children at risk." He said the AI rollout would ensure those who "game the system" are identified and removed, while those who require protection receive it. The Home Office confirmed that final decisions will remain with immigration officers, and that the technology will undergo testing and evaluation before national rollout.

The Refugee and Migrant Children's Consortium, whose membership includes organisations working directly with refugee and migrant children, disputes whether the technology is fit for this purpose. In a report released this month, the consortium identified several areas of concern. Many of the young people being assessed have experienced trauma, malnutrition and physically gruelling journeys, all of which can affect appearance in ways that may distort an AI system's output. Kamena Dorling, co-chair of the consortium, said the technology "cannot account for the factors that can significantly affect a young person's appearance after fleeing conflict and persecution."

The consortium also raised concerns about bias in AI datasets and the accuracy of facial estimation tools more broadly. Kama Petruczenko, a senior policy analyst at the Refugee Council and member of the consortium, warned that poor image quality and biased training data could compromise results. She said there was a "real danger that this technology creates a false sense of certainty in decisions that are already extremely difficult to get right." If current flawed processes are simply replicated through automation, the number of children wrongly placed in adult settings could increase rather than decrease.

The consortium has stopped short of calling for the technology to be abandoned. Its report urges the Home Office to use AI in an advisory capacity rather than as the basis for decisions, with mandatory safeguards in place. These include access to an appropriate adult during assessments, access to legal advice, and a clear right to challenge any outcome. The report explicitly states that machine error should not be allowed to replace the human error that already exists in some age assessment cases.

The contract, valued at £322,000 over three years, has been awarded to Akhter Computers Ltd. Under its terms, the technology will be further developed and tested before a projected national rollout in 2027. The Home Office has said the system will undergo rigorous assurance processes before it is used operationally. Whether those processes will satisfy the organisations raising concerns about child welfare remains to be seen.