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and adjudicators rarely prevented the child from
being cross examined by Home Office Presenting
Officers.
Child centred decision making
Of great concern is the finding that even where the
atmosphere of the hearing may have been more child
friendly, the majority of adjudicators did not adopt
a child centred framework when arriving at decisions.
Scarce consideration was given to a child’s difficulty
in remembering detailed circumstances relating to
their departure or travel. Adjudicators often failed
to apply the benefit of the doubt — in breach of
the Chief Adjudicator’s Guidance 52 and the Immigration
Rules. 53 There is concern that adjudicators
have failed to take children’s appeals as seriously as
adults because they have already been granted discretionary
leave to remain until they reach 18. Specific
training of adjudicators on issues relating to unaccompanied
and separated children’s appeals was
only introduced in 2005. However it was only one
case study within a more general training course.
unaccompanied or separated children were maintained.
Though a theoretical right of appeal exists to
the Court of Appeal and House of Lords there have
been no reported decisions of substantive asylum
appeals by unaccompanied or separated children. Following
the reform to the IAT, the Immigration Judges
will have a pivotal role in decision making.
Recommendations
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13.1 The Home Office in conjunction with
UNHCR, the Refugee Children’s Consortium and
the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association
should devise a course to prepare Home Office
Presenting Officers for representing the Secretary
of State for the Home Department at appeals by
unaccompanied or separated children.
13.2 The Home Office should ensure that no
Home Office Presenting Officer is allocated an
appeal by an unaccompanied or separated child
until he or she has attended any such course.
Role of home office presenting officers
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13.3 The Home Office should prepare written
Where an unaccompanied or separated child is not
guidance for Home Office Presenting Officers on
SEEKING ASYLUM ALONE | UNITED KINGDOM
202
legally represented at the appeal the Home Office
Presenting Officers (HOPOs) play a crucial role.
There has been considerable resistance from HOPOs
to differentiate between adults and unaccompanied
or separated children, with cross examination of the
children regularly requested and allowed. HOPOs
have expected children as young as nine to give
evidence. 54
Immigration Appeal Tribunal
Prior to the reform of the Immigration Appeal Tribunal
(IAT) into a single tier, an appeal could be made
to a three person tribunal which could provide legal
guidance to adjudicators. This system operated for
12 years but no records relating to the appeals of
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how to represent the Secretary of State for the
Home Department at appeals by unaccompanied
or separated children in compliance with best
practice as established by UNHCR, the Separated
Children in Europe programme, and the Immigration
Law Practitioners’ Association.
13.4 The Department of Constitutional Affairs
and the Home Office should collect statistics about
the number of unaccompanied or separated
children appealing against an initial refusal to
grant them asylum, the grounds upon which
such appeals were brought, and the outcome of
these reports and the basis upon which they were
allowed or dismissed.
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