Council directors have raised doubts over Government plans to take over age assessments of unaccompanied asylum seeking children.
The Home Office is recruiting 40 social workers to form a National Age Assessment Board (NAAB) that will ultimately take on a ‘significant proportion’ of work currently carried out by councils.
It is understood a West Midlands pilot scheme is about to get underway, with capacity to grow gradually over the coming months.
The board will have the power to review local decisions where there is doubt over their conclusions and will have the final say.
It will also have the power to use controversial ‘scientific methods’ such as examining DNA samples in some circumstances.
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