The Centre for Social Justice

It is estimated that there are about a quarter of a million ‘failed’ asylum seekers currently living in the UK. The majority are not eligible for any support and are also forbidden to work, or even to volunteer; yet they cannot or will not return to their home countries many of which are deemed unsafe. The asylum system loses control of people at the end of the process and effectively forces them into destitution, illegal activity and vulnerability. Citizens have lost confidence in asylum and have confused it with general immigration, with a gross misunderstanding of the reality of many people’s real situations.

The Problem

The Home Office estimates that there are between 155,000 – 280,000 failed asylum seekers living in the UK without any statutory support.[i]However press reports in October 2007 suggest the figure is closer to 450,000.[ii]
23% of asylum appeals are upheld [iii]calling into question the quality of the initial decisions
Voluntary return is taken up by only 6% and the numbers of removals continue to fall

Government’s response

A piecemeal tightening of asylum law that has restricted access to legal aid and driven many quality legal practices out of business.
The New Asylum Model has been introduced with many improvements but it still fails to adequately deal with people at the end of the process.

The Result

A growing underclass in society that leaves many destitute being supported by voluntary and faith sector organisations.

The asylum policy group is concerned about the role of destitution in our asylum policy. We recognise the importance of having secure borders and a system that is not open to abuse; but we want to emphasise that the process needs to be a just and humane one with adequate access to the support required to ensure a fair hearing. We are concerned about the lack of engagement at the end of the process providing few incentives for asylum seekers to remain in touch with UKBA adding to the challenges of bringing a satisfactory conclusion to people’s asylum cases.

We believe that asylum policy needs a radical overhaul if it is to be both firm and fair. We envisage policy that addresses the asylum processing system, the ability of asylum-seekers to work, the voluntary or forced return of failed asylum-seekers who have no case to stay, and the need to maintain a robust system which is not open to abuse.

[i]‘Returning failed asylum applicants’ House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts – 27 February 2006

[ii]Telegraph, link

[iii] http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs08/asylumq108.pdf

Topics

CHAIRMAN

Julian Prior is the Project Director of Open Door (North East) an organisation that provides accommodation for failed asylum seekers who have become destitute in Tyneside. He is the author of a significant piece of research into this issue called ‘Destitute and Desperate’ (April 2006). On the basis of his research and first-hand experience, Julian has campaigned for change locally and nationally. Prior to working for Open Door, Julian was an Account Director for a number of leading advertising and marketing agencies in the North East.