(UK) — The UK will lower the minimum age for children using airport e-gates when returning to the country, allowing eligible children aged 8 and 9 to use the system from 8 July 2026.

The change applies to children who are at least 120 centimetres tall and travelling with an adult. It will cover UK airport e-gates and UK border checkpoints in Brussels and Paris.

Officials said the measure will allow about 1.5 million additional children a year to use e-gates. The government said it aims to cut family queues during busy travel periods, including the summer holiday season.

Mike Tapp, the UK’s Migration and Citizenship Minister, said: “More families will experience a swifter and smoother journey home this summer holiday season.”

Phil Douglas, Border Force Director General, said the expansion would let “highly skilled officers” focus on people who pose a threat to the UK.

The system already operates at 13 UK airports, including Heathrow, Gatwick, and Manchester. It is also in place at the juxtaposed border controls in Paris and Brussels, where UK checks take place before departure.

Until now, the minimum age for using the gates has been higher. From 8 July 2026, children aged eight and nine who meet the height rule and travel with an adult will join older eligible passengers in using the automated lanes.

The rule applies to children returning to the UK. It does not extend to all travellers, and the existing eligibility rules for nationality and travel status remain in place.

Current access covers British citizens and eligible travellers from countries including the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, and EU member states.

E-gates use automated border checks to process passengers who qualify to use them. By bringing younger children into that process, the government is targeting one of the most common pinch points at the border, family groups that currently move at the pace of the youngest child who cannot use the gates.

That operational change also shifts Border Force staffing. Douglas said the wider use of e-gates would free officers to concentrate on passengers who require closer examination and on those considered a threat to the UK.

The timing places the new rule at the start of the summer travel period, when airports and border points typically face heavier volumes. Tapp’s reference to a “swifter and smoother journey home” tied the move directly to that seasonal demand.

Families using the gates will still need to meet the stated conditions. Children must be with an adult, and they must be at least 120 centimetres tall to qualify under the new lower age threshold.

At Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and the rest of the network, the change is likely to be most visible in the family queues that build during school holiday peaks. The same applies in Paris and Brussels, where UK-bound passengers clear British border controls before boarding.

The expansion keeps the focus on arrivals and return journeys rather than a broader rewrite of border eligibility. From 8 July 2026, the practical effect is narrower but clear: children aged eight and nine who meet the height rule will be able to pass through UK e-gates with an adult, adding roughly 1.5 million young passengers a year to the automated system.