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

AI facial recognition will be deployed at the UK's borders next year. A software company has been awarded a contract to develop and test the technology, which will estimate a person's age by analysing photographs of them taken at the border. The Home Office says the technology will make it easier to identify adult migrants "attempting to game the system", after initial testing indicated "promising performance and accuracy".

In the year ending March 2026, more than 6,400 migrants claiming to be children were age assessed at the border, with 43% found to be adults, according to Home Office data. A total of 111,084 people claimed asylum in the UK in the year ending June 2025, 14% more than in the previous year. The contract will cost £322,000 over three years. Alex Norris, Minister for Border Security and Asylum, said adult migrants "making false age claims have exploited the system and diverted vital support away from children at risk". Anna Bacciarelli, a senior AI researcher at campaign group Human Rights Watch, said: "The government needs to scrap this deeply flawed approach to assessing child refugees."

The contract will see the technology further tested and developed before being rolled out in mid-2027. The technology is expected to be trialled for the first time on live cases of asylum seekers at Western Jet Foil, a processing centre in Dover, next year.