Plans to overhaul the asylum system will cost nearly £900m and worsen the existing backlog of claims, refugee charities have said.
The Refugee Council has said plans to review refugee status every 30 months – part of a broad sweep of reforms to the reforms to asylum and returns policy – will cost around £872m; while Asylum Matters has said the reforms will "fail" because they are based on a flawed understanding of why people seek asylum.
In an announcement yesterday, home secretary Shabana Mahmood said the reforms – which include the creation of a new asylum appeals body – are aimed at reducing so-called "illegal arrivals" and increasing removals of "those with no right to be here”.
It is illegal to enter the UK without a visa or special permission. However, people who then go on to claim asylum are protected under international law.
The changes targeting these irregular arrivals, predominately on small boats, include making refugee status temporary. This would require those arriving in the UK as asylum seekers to stay for 20 years before they are eligible to settle permanently, compared to the current five; and give refugees an initial 30 months of leave to remain, down from the current five years. A new "work and study" visa route will be created to allow refugees to settle more quickly.
Refugee charities have said the changes – much of which are modelled on Denmark’s system – and will not deter people from making dangerous crossings but will prevent people from integrating. They also said the reforms will increase the cost of running the asylum system.
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, warned that reviewing refugee status every 30 months will "add to the backlog and chaos that the Home Office is facing".
He said it would require the Home Office to review the status of 1.4 million people by 2035, costing around £872m.
"Instead of these expensive and inhumane plans, the government should ensure that refugees can build secure, settled lives in the UK," he said.
Nathan Phillips, head of campaigns at Asylum Matters, warned the plans "completely misunderstand why people seek sanctuary" and so will "fail".
"Most people have no idea exactly what the refugee laws in the country they’re fleeing to are," he said. "They come for family ties, for a common language, for an understanding of the culture and, first and foremost, for safety."
Responding to Labour MP Abtisam Mohamed, who raised similar concerns about extra costs and pressure on "an already overstretched system", Mahmood said: "It is also my job to make sure that we have the administration capacity and the funding to enact these reforms, which we will."
Other changes to the asylum system announced yesterday include limiting family reunions to “exceptional circumstances"; changing the “duty” to support asylum seekers to a legal “power” to do so; and requiring asylum seekers with income or assets to contribute to the cost of their stay.
Mahmood also pledged to remove benefits from those "who are able to work but choose not to". At the moment, refugees who receive benefits such as Universal Credit are subject to the same conditions as UK citizens, including work-search requirements and sanctions if they fail to meet those requirements.
A policy paper published by the Home Office yesterday said it is "exploring a change to taxpayer-funded benefits to prioritise access for those who are making an economic contribution to the UK".
This could mean introducing stricter criteria that migrants have to meet to receive benefits and actions they need to take in order not to lose them. A consultation on the issue will take place next year, the Home Office said.
Appeals backlog to blame for slow removals, Mahmood says
To increase removals of those with failed asylum claims, Mahmood said the government will begin removing families, encouraging a voluntary return but forcibly deporting people where necessary. Where the barrier to a return is the receiving country, Mahmood said the Home Office will impose visa penalties on those countries.
Mahmood said much of the delay in removals comes from “the sclerotic nature” of the system.
She noted that the appeals backlog had 51,000 cases as of March. She said the government has increased judicial sitting days, “but reform is required”, hence the creation of a new asylum appeals body.
The home secretary said the body, which was first trailed by her predecessor, Yvette Cooper, will be staffed by “professional independent adjudicators” and will ensure there is early legal representation available to advise claimants and that their issues are properly considered.
The Home Office policy paper points to Denmark, where “a separate judicial system operates through the Refugee Appeals Board, where decisions are considered final and generally cannot be challenged in ordinary civil or administrative courts”.
Mahmood said cases with a low chance of success will be fast-tracked, and claimants will have just one opportunity to claim and one to appeal, “ending the merry-go-round of claims and appeals that frustrate so many removals”.
She also announced plans to redefine the Article 8 right to respect for family and private life, narrowing the definition of a family to parents and their children; changing the public interest test so the default becomes a removal or refusal; and allowing only people already in the UK to lodge an Article 8 claim, rather than their family members overseas.
Mahmood said claims will “be heard first by the Home Office and not in a courtroom”.
The home secretary said she will also pursue international reform of the application of Article 3 – the prohibition on torture and inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment. She said the definition of “degrading treatment” has “expanded into the realm of the ridiculous” and she will seek changes at the Council of Europe “alongside international partners who have raised similar concerns”.
Mahmood also announced she will bring forward legislation to tighten the modern slavery system “to ensure that it protects those it was designed for, and not those who seek to abuse it”. She claimed the law is being “abused by those who seek to frustrate a legitimate removal”.
The home secretary said the reforms are “designed to ensure our asylum system is fit for the modern world, and that we retain public consent for the very idea of providing refuge”.
She added that “once order and control is restored, we will open new, capped, safe and legal routes into this country”. She said sponsorship would be the “primary means by which we resettle refugees, with voluntary and community organisations given greater involvement to both receive refugees and support them, working within caps set by government”.
Mahmood said the government will also create a new route for displaced students to study in the UK, and another for skilled refugees to work here.
She also said the Home Office is exploring a number of large military sites as part of the government’s commitment to end the use of hotels to house asylum seekers.
The home secretary said the reforms will “build an asylum system for the world as it is: one that restores order and control; one that opens safe and legal routes to those fleeing danger across the world; and one that sustains our commitment to providing refuge for this generation, and those to come”.
PCS, the civil service's biggest union, has used the announcement as an opportunity to publish its own alternative plans in a new report with campaign coalition Together With Refugees. The report, Welcoming growth: The economic case for a fair and human asylum system, sets out changes that it estimates would mean every refugee accepted in the UK would contribute £260,000 to the UK economy and £53,000 to the public purse.
Based on research by the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre at LSE, the report says the savings would come from: processing all asylum claims within six months; giving legal assistance at all stages of the application process; and providing English language support employment support from the day of arrival.