Asylum-seeking children win compensation after being unlawfully detained

The case, which concluded in 2010, came to light following a freedom of information request made by The Guardian newspaper.

It dates back as far as 2005 when Bhatt Murphy Solicitors mounted a judicial review of the Home Office’s policy for disputing the age of asylum-seekers, on behalf of the children.

This policy permitted immigration officers to treat child asylum-seekers as adults and to detain them without first properly assessing their age.

In response to the judicial review, the Home Office changed the law on detaining children whose ages are disputed, and after several year of legal wrangling, formally admitted that the 40 children had been unlawfully detained and agreed to pay compensation and legal costs.

But the Refugee Council warned that children are still wrongly being held in adult detention centres, despite the change in the law. The charity worked with 26 children detained as adults and subsequently accepted as children in 2010, and 22 such cases in 2011.

The children’s solicitor Mark Scott said: "It is obvious that vulnerable children who have done nothing other than to seek help should not be locked up by the State."

He went on: "It is of great concern if some child asylum-seekers continue to be detained contrary to policy. This comes at a time when government cuts to legal funding for people on low income will make it increasingly difficult to hold the state to account in the courts."

Donna Covey, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said government must introduce better guidance and training for people working on age assessments, and that such assessments should be carried out independently.

"The government pledged to end child detention nearly two years ago, and while they have made steps to do this for children with their families, children who are here on their own, many having fled horrifying experiences in their own countries, are still being detained due to flaws in the system," she said.

"This is unacceptable. We know from our work with detained young people that detention can severely damage their physical and mental wellbeing."

A Home Office spokesman said the UK Border Agency takes the welfare of young people "exceptionally seriously".

"Where there is any doubt over an individual's age, they will not be detained unless an independent local authority age assessment concludes that they are over 18," he said.

"These checks are carried out by social workers with expert knowledge. All of our front-line staff receive specialist training to ensure that the welfare of young people is considered at every stage."