NXP and NAN, R (on the application of) [2026] UKUT 192 (24 April 2026)

Executive summary

The Upper Tribunal held that judicial review challenges to age assessment decisions made by a “designated person” under sections 50 and 51 of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 fall within the Transfer Direction and therefore must be brought in the Tribunal. It also held that the proper respondent in such challenges is the Secretary of State for the Home Department, and that where interim relief is sought the local authority to whom any order is directed should be named and served as an interested party.

Key points

• Applicants: NXP (Vietnam) and NAN (Afghanistan), both disputing age assessments by NAAB-designated persons; NAN’s case also involved Hertfordshire County Council as interested party.
• Holding 1: age-assessment JR under sections 50/51 NABA 2022 is within paragraph 1(i) of the Transfer Direction and must be brought in the Upper Tribunal.
• Holding 2: the appropriate respondent is the Secretary of State for the Home Department, not NAAB or other nomenclature.
• Reasoning: the judgment focuses on the statutory transfer/jurisdiction scheme in the Senior Courts Act 1981, TCEA 2007, and the Transfer Direction.
• Interim relief point: if an order is sought against a local authority, that authority should be named as an interested party and served.
• No sanctions/export-control issue is addressed; the case is about immigration age-assessment procedure and tribunal forum allocation.

Why it matters

The decision clarifies who must be sued and where age-assessment challenges under NABA 2022 must be filed, reducing procedural uncertainty in a high-volume immigration-and-trafficking context. While not a sanctions case, it affects state handling of vulnerable-border-population determinations, which can have downstream sovereign-risk and compliance implications for public authorities and counsel.

Implications

Practitioners should file these judicial reviews in the Upper Tribunal and name the SSHD as respondent, even where the challenged assessment was carried out by NAAB social workers. If interim relief is needed against a local authority, it must be brought into the case formally as an interested party and served, or the application risks procedural defect and delay.