As we reveal this week (see p1), the Court of Appeal has made a landmark ruling that such a decision should rest ultimately with the court and not the local authority accommodating the young person. The London authority at the centre of the precedent-setting case determined that K, who had arrived from Uganda, was not the person claimed nor the asserted age of 14, but that she was over 18.
If an asylum-seeker is under 18, it of course imposes a heavier burden on resources for the receiving authority. The age assessment by the authority in question was based solely on conversations with the adult and the child. The case, brought by The Children's Legal Centre, has ruled that the courts should give the final say through a much more rigorous investigation of the facts.
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