Airport eGates Open to Eight and Nine-Year-Olds Next Week
Children aged eight and nine will be able to use eGates at UK airports and border ports from next Wednesday, 8 July, provided they are travelling with an adult. The change, confirmed by the Home Office, lowers the minimum age from ten and takes effect just before the school summer holidays — the point in the year when family queues at the border are longest. More than a dozen airports operate the automated gates.
The change is the latest step in a gradual widening of eGate eligibility, and Border Force capacity is the quiet driver: every family diverted from staffed desks frees officers for casework at the busiest time of year. Automated gates now handle the large majority of arrivals at the biggest hubs, so small eligibility changes move real queue times. Watch how the system copes over the first peak weekends of the holidays — queue data from Heathrow and Manchester will show quickly whether the change delivers.