New guidance says facial age estimation technology to only be used as supplementary tool for immigration officers
The Home Office on Friday published guidance outlining plans to use facial age estimation (FAE) technology to support immigration officers making initial age decisions for asylum seekers who arrive in the UK without documentary evidence of their age.
You can read the guidance online here.
FAE uses artificial intelligence to estimate a person's age from a facial image, using an algorithm that has been trained on very large sets of images of people whose ages are known. FAE is not currently in operational use by the Home Office. It will be tested throughout 2026, with implementation at the border planned for 2027.
The Home Office says it will be used as a cost-effective, supplementary tool rather than replacing human decision-making.
The guidance states: "The Home Office has been clear that FAE would be used only as a supplementary tool for immigration officers, providing additional information to help them make initial age decisions. It won't be relied upon to make a definitive age decision or to replace holistic approaches such as Merton-compliant age assessments. […] An initial age assessment will always be made by a properly trained immigration officer who can also call on the advice of colleagues and social workers when needed."
The Home Office guidance acknowledges limitations and potential errors in the technology. It says that age cannot be determined with 100% accuracy and notes that leading systems tested by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have an error margin of around 2.5 years at the critical 16 to 18-year-old age boundary. The Home Office also said performance can vary according to factors including ethnicity, skin tone, gender, place of birth and image quality. NIST's testing found error rates were generally higher for female faces.
It continued: "In its appraisal for using FAE for age assessments, the Home Office has tested industry leading algorithms on images across different ethnicities and genders. These algorithms will be further tested to assess their suitability for use within the immigration system."
On 28 May, the Home Office awarded a new contract to deliver FAE to the Harlow-based company Akhter Computers Limited and the German company Cognitec Systems GmbH, which describes itself as developing market-leading face recognition technologies for businesses and governments around the world.
According to BBC News, the three-year, £322,000 contract will support further testing and development of the technology before its planned rollout in mid-2027. The technology is expected to be trialled on live asylum cases at the Western Jet Foil processing centre in Dover next year. The Home Office said testing carried out so far has not been used in live decision-making.
Alex Norris, the Minister for Border Security and Asylum, was quoted by news media as saying: "For too long, adult migrants making false age claims have exploited the system and diverted vital support away from children at risk. That is why we are rolling out AI technology to put a stop to this, ensuring those who game the system are identified, detained and removed without delay, and those who deserve support and protection are given it."
The British Association of Social Workers (BASW) criticised the plans, arguing that social workers are best placed to assess the ages of young asylum seekers. In a press release, BASW said the Government was irresponsibly "gambling" on AI technology, which is prone to mistakes.
Interim BASW chief executive Professor Sam Baron said: "Assessing the ages of migrants is a complex process which social workers are best placed to do. This important task should not be open to shortcuts through artificial intelligence, especially as the pitfalls of getting it wrong can lead to major safeguarding risks. […] Social workers are best placed to determine age as they take a 'whole picture' approach, whereas these other methods put forward by the government do not. A 16-year-old from Syria and an 18-year-old from Syria can look the same to AI, yet a social worker can consider their background and their life so far to identify maturity, and the best likelihood of their correct age."
Jo Schofield, a BASW member and director of Immigration Social Work Services, added: "This announcement undermines the seriousness of the work the Home Office should be doing. By framing this new approach as an effort to 'catch adults falsely claiming to be children', they reveal their bias. It positions the issue as a 'hunt' for adults rather than a safeguarding responsibility towards children."