AI facial recognition to check age of asylum seekers from next year

The UK Home Office has awarded a £322,000 contract to Harlow-based IT supplier Akhter Computers Ltd to develop and test AI facial recognition technology designed to estimate the age of asylum seekers. The system will analyze photographs taken at the border to determine whether individuals are adults posing as children, with initial testing showing promising results. The technology is scheduled for trial at Western Jet Foil, a processing center in Dover, in mid-2027 before full rollout. The move follows concerns over adult migrants falsely claiming to be children to access the UK’s care system instead of the asylum process. In the year ending March 2026, over 6,400 migrants claiming to be children were assessed at the border, with 43% found to be adults, according to Home Office data. A 2024-2025 government inspection report highlighted cases where age assessments were incorrect, raising risks of denying protections to genuine children. Minister for Border Security and Asylum Alex Norris stated that the AI system will help identify and remove adults exploiting the system while ensuring vulnerable children receive support. The technology will supplement existing methods, including document checks, X-rays, and MRI scans, but will not replace human assessments. Testing has already included diverse ethnicities and genders representative of asylum-seeking populations. Human Rights Watch condemned the plan, calling it unproven and potentially harmful to child refugees. Senior AI researcher Anna Bacciarelli urged the government to abandon the scheme, warning it could undermine legal protections for minors. The Home Office maintains the technology is the most cost-effective solution to address age assessment challenges amid rising asylum claims, with 111,084 applications submitted in the year ending June 2025, a 14% increase from the prior year.