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Section 55: Duty regarding the welfare of children

Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 · 2009 c. 11View on legislation.gov.uk

Part 4: Miscellaneous and general

The Secretary of State must make arrangements for ensuring that—

the functions mentioned in subsection (2) are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children who are in the United Kingdom, and
any services provided by another person pursuant to arrangements which are made by the Secretary of State and relate to the discharge of a function mentioned in subsection (2) are provided having regard to that need.

The functions referred to in subsection (1) are—

any function of the Secretary of State in relation to immigration, asylum or nationality;
any function conferred by or by virtue of the Immigration Acts on an immigration officer;
any general customs function of the Secretary of State;
any customs function conferred on a designated customs official.

A person exercising any of those functions must, in exercising the function, have regard to any guidance given to the person by the Secretary of State for the purpose of subsection (1).

The Director of Border Revenue must make arrangements for ensuring that—

the Director's functions are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children who are in the United Kingdom, and
any services provided by another person pursuant to arrangements made by the Director in the discharge of such a function are provided having regard to that need.

A person exercising a function of the Director of Border Revenue must, in exercising the function, have regard to any guidance given to the person by the Secretary of State for the purpose of subsection (4).

In this section—

  • "children" means persons who are under the age of 18;

  • "customs function", "designated customs official" and "general customs function" have the meanings given by Part 1.

A reference in an enactment (other than this Act) to the Immigration Acts includes a reference to this section.

Section 21 of the UK Borders Act 2007 (c. 30) (children) ceases to have effect.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.