Currently, people wait more than a year on average for their asylum appeal to be heard due to a huge backlog, up from 7,000 in 2023 to 51,000 at the end of March. Under Home Office plans set out this week in its policy paper, ‘Restoring order and control’, claims with ‘a low likelihood of success’ would be accelerated, as would appeals for ‘removable high-harm cases’ and others where this is in the public interest.
The government also aims to legislate to clarify the public interest test in order to ‘narrow the circumstances’ in which it would be outweighed by an individual’s Art 8 rights to family life. ‘Family’ would be restricted to immediate family.
Refugees would be afforded ‘more basic, and temporary’ support, known as ‘core protection’, with the current five-year leave to remain halved to 30 months. If not considered ‘in need’ at that point, they would then be liable for removal. Under core protection there would be no automatic right to family reunion. Refugees would need to have lived in the UK for 20 years rather than the current five before applying for indefinite settled status.
The Home Office intends to consult on processes for enforcing the removal of families, including children, while respecting the principle of non-refoulement.
It is also negotiating with a ‘number of countries’ on ‘return hubs’ where asylum seekers can be sent if their claim fails. Visa penalties would be imposed on countries that refuse returns of citizens.
The policy paper states the government ‘expects those who are arriving or returning to the UK to seek work’, raising the possibility it might lift the ban on asylum seekers finding employment.
Law Society president Mark Evans said: ‘As well as ensuring the right to a fair hearing, reforms must also respect international treaties, which have been made in good faith to benefit us all. As reforms take place it is vital that they are tested against these core principles with proper accountability and transparency.’
