Part 4: Age Assessment Section 51: Persons subject to immigration control: assessment for immigration purposes
Overview: This section confers a power on the Secretary of State to conduct full age assessments on age-disputed persons (as defined in section 49), for the purposes of deciding whether or how the Secretary of State should exercise any immigration functions in relation to the person.
	Background: It is expected that most age assessments undertaken by the National Age Assessment Board will be conducted upon referral from a local authority, but this section enables the board to conduct age assessments for the purposes of deciding whether or how the Secretary of State should exercise any immigration functions.
	This section confers a specific power on a designated person (an official designated by the Secretary of State) to conduct age assessments on an age-disputed person.
	Subsection 1 stipulates that a designated person may conduct an age assessment on an age-disputed person for the purposes of deciding whether or how the Secretary of State should exercise any immigration functions in relation to that person.
	Subsection 2(a) states that the Secretary of State may conduct an age assessment on an age-disputed person under subsection (1) in circumstances where subsection (3) and subsection (4) of section 50 do not apply. This allows for a designated person to conduct an age assessment on an age-disputed person where the person is not in the care of a local authority and is not claiming to be an unaccompanied child. This could include where an age-disputed person seeking asylum is claiming to be a child dependent of another person and does not require accommodation or support from a local authority.
	Subsection 2(b) says that even where subsections (3) and (4) of section 50 do apply, there are two circumstances where a designated person would be permitted to conduct an age assessment of an age-disputed person. Firstly, an age assessment may be conducted by the designated person at any time before a local authority has referred an age-disputed person to the designated person or conducted an age assessment itself. Secondly, an age assessment can also be conducted if the Secretary of State has reason to doubt an age assessment conducted by a local authority on an age-disputed person or has reason to doubt a local authority’s decision not to conduct an age assessment.
	Subsection 3 specifies that an age assessment under this section is binding on the Secretary of State when exercising immigration functions. Whether the assessment is binding or continues to be binding is subject to section 54, and also subject to section 56. This means that the age assessment conducted by a designated person under this section would no longer be binding if it is overturned on appeal, or if a new assessment decision is taken under section 56 because significant new evidence has come to light.
	Subsection 4 stipulates that the standard of proof for an age assessment under this section is the balance of probabilities.