A pro-migrant British charity attempted to convince judges that adult migrants were children.
Care4Calais, an organisation which provides everything from food and clothing to sim cards to migrants in France has helped “asylum seekers” challenge Home Office assessments that they were adults.
Unaccompanied children who claim asylum are far more likely to receive refugee status, at a rate of 62 per cent compared to the overall approval rate of 42 per cent.
GB News analysis has previously determined thousands of migrants are fraudulently claiming to be minors to the Home Office to exploit that loophole.
In one case, a Sudanese man in his 20s was placed into children’s accommodation after Care4Calais referred him to a local council, the Telegraph revealed in an investigation.
And, in a separate case, the charity backed an Ethiopian migrant with “a receding hairline” to be a 17-year-old. A judge ruled he was 22.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp has now called for Care4Calais to be investigated by the Charity Commission.
He said: “If male illegal immigrants in their 20s get away with pretending to be under 18 and are then placed with teenage girls in schools, the risks are obvious.
“Care4Calais’ activity is borderline illegal and certainly not charitable. Care4Calais actively supports illegal immigration, and the Charity Commission should investigate them and shut them down.”
PICTURED: A Care4Calais worker stacks up boxes of freebies ready to hand to would-be migrants in France | PAZia Yusuf, Reform UK’s home affairs spokesman, said the charity was “aiding and abetting the mass invasion of unvetted males into Britain”.
A spokesman for Care4Calais defended its work, telling The Telegraph child migrants incorrectly ruled to be adults was the “real scandal”.
Home Office figures show that only a few hundred child migrants were wrongly treated as adults last year. It is unclear how quickly those errors were rectified.
“Care4Calais is a humanitarian charity that distributes aid to people who have fled war, torture and persecution,” the spokesman added.
“In respect of age dispute casework, these cases are judged via a legal process according to UK law. Any accusation of illegal activities, whether said by a politician or published by a media outlet, is not only untrue, it is grossly defamatory and it is the sort of misinformation that puts the safety of charity staff and volunteers at risk.”
In the case of the Ethiopian migrant, a volunteer from the charity said in March this year she believed him to be 17 because he “does not like making decisions” and had asked her partner “how to shave” and “whether he can talk to girls”.
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A volunteer from Care4Calais backed a Sudanese migrant’s claim he was 17, but he was later determined to be 22
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Judge Sarah Grey rejected the asylum seeker’s claim despite a judicial review lodged by Care4Calais, ruling he was 22 when he entered the UK, and noted his “thick facial hair around the upper lip”, evidence of “physical maturity”, a widows peak hair line and “prominent” Adam’s Apple.
“I find that the applicant has made a conscientious effort to mislead the authorities to secure the perceived benefits from being an unaccompanied asylum-seeking child,” the judge ruled.
The Sudanese migrant faced an immigration tribunal in March 2024 and, despite his “established wrinkles” and “a pronounced Adam’s apple”, Care4Calais referred him to Hampshire County Council as a 17-year-old.
In July, the council reassessed his age as 25, and three months later, his asylum claim was rejected by the Home Office.
Judge Luke Bulpitt said in his ruling the migrant’s “willingness to conceal and to mislead about his age if he considers it advantageous to do so is clear”, adding that it significantly undermined his claims.
Care4Calais’ dedicated age dispute team had 312 migrants sign up for its services, according to the charity’s most recent annual report from 2025.
Care4Calais defended its age dispute services, arguing the ‘real scandal’ was the Government’s direct involvement in decisions
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The Charity Commission said it would assess “what, if any, role there is for the Charity Commission as regulator”.
It added: “We have made no findings at this time, and have not opened a regulatory compliance case or statutory inquiry.”
A spokesman for Care4Calais said: “The Government’s own data shows that almost 60 per cent of age disputes are found to be children. That number rises to 72 per cent when the Home Office is not the decision-maker, and the age disputes assessment is independently carried out by professional social workers working for local authorities.
“Our legal access department is a casework service that helps people seeking asylum access justice by signposting them to secure legal representation. Citing four age dispute cases, dating as far back as 2022, when 72 per cent of local authority social work decisions are that the person is a child, does not call into question our age dispute casework – it shows the value of it.
“Rather than politically motivated attacks on charities, Conservative and Reform politicians should use their time to investigate the influence of the Government’s direct involvement in age dispute decisions given the clear disparity in the outcome of independent local authority decisions in comparison to those that the Home Office are involved in.
“Wrongly declaring an asylum-seeking child an adult is a child protection issue, that also denies that child the right to an education – that’s the real scandal.”
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