Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015

12 Presumption of age

(1) This section applies where—

(a) a relevant authority has reasonable grounds to believe that a person may be a victim of an offence of human trafficking, and

(b) the authority is not certain of the person’s age but has reasonable grounds to believe that the person may be a child.

(2) Until an assessment of the person’s age is carried out by a local authority, or the person’s age is otherwise determined, the relevant authority must assume that the person is a child for the purposes of exercising its functions under the relevant enactments.

(3) The “relevant enactments” are—

(a) an enactment which applies to a child who is looked after by a local authority within the meaning of section 17(6)(a) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 (child for whom a local authority is providing accommodation),

(b) section 22 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 (promotion by a local authority of welfare of children in need),

(c) section 25 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 (provision by a local authority of accommodation for children),

(d) Part 4 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 (provision of named persons),

(e) Part 5 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 (child’s plan), and

(f) section 11.

(4) In this section, “relevant authority” means—

(a) a Health Board constituted under section 2(1) of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978, and

(b) a local authority.

(5) The Scottish Ministers may by regulations modify subsections (3) and (4).