Briefing on the National Age Assessment Board (NAAB)
TwMCThe National Age Assessment Board (NAAB) was established through sections 50 and 51 of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 and is a decision making function within the Home Office that completes age assessments on behalf of Local Authorities. The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) found that serious concerns remain about its capacity, transparency, and quality assurance – raising questions about the NAAB’s ability to fulfil its ambition of being a ‘centre of excellence’.
This briefing from the Refugee and Migrant Children’s Consortium, to which TwMC is a member of the age dispute subgroup, brings forward a number of concerns raised by us and other organisations around the process and fairness of NAAB age assessments.
We continue, alongside other organisation, to call for the disbanding of the National Age Assessment Board and if they choose not to disband it, to implement key safeguards such as prohibiting NAAB assessment where a local authority accepts a young person’s claimed age and uphold key protections such as the benefit of the doubt in age assessments.
