The Home Office is routinely changing the dates of birth of unaccompanied child asylum seekers to classify them as adults, according to experts who say the practice is now happening on a “horrifying scale”. Sonia Lambert, who works for the Refugee Council, described boys giving their ages as 15 to 17, but Home Office staff not accepting their stated ages. Categorising the unaccompanied child asylum seekers as adults meant some were placed in Manston for more than 10 days at a time, and several for over 20 days. Renae Mann, executive director of services at the Refugee Council, said: “This is a misuse of power by the government. We are taking a holistic approach to prevent adults claiming to be children, or children being wrongly treated as adults – both present serious safeguarding risks to children.
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