The UK Home Office wrongfully detained 94 children as adults under its “one-in-one-out” migration deal with France, even though the scheme excludes children.

Of 304 age disputes recorded between August 2025 and May 2026, assessments later identified 31% as children. Some waited weeks in immigration detention before officials determined their age.

Migrant children treated as adults

In a letter to Home Office minister Anna Turley, Independent Monitoring Boards (IMB) interim chair Jane Leech revealed that officials recorded 304 age disputes between August 2025 and May 2026. They ultimately recognized 94 (31%) people as children.

Government policy limits the immigration detention of unaccompanied children to 24 hours. Yet age disputes could take weeks to resolve. In two cases monitored by an IMB, officials took at least 40 days after arrival at an immigration removal center to complete age assessments.

As The Guardian reports, Leech warned:

“The IMB is therefore concerned that child safeguarding mechanisms are ineffective, and believes more should be done to ensure that those whose age is under dispute are not detained in the first place.”

Most people detained under the UK-France migration scheme are asylum seekers seeking protection in the UK. For children who may have already survived trafficking, torture or exploitation, misclassification can mean weeks in adult immigration detention instead of being recognized and supported as children. Monitors found many detainees in psychological distress and evidence that many had survived torture and abuse.

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