- By Lucy Gilder and Anthony Reuben
- BBC Verify
Image source, Getty Images
There has been a lot of focus on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s “Stop the boats” pledge but he has made another key commitment on illegal immigration – clearing the legacy backlog of asylum claims.
The government defines this backlog as claims made before 28 June 2022 that have yet to receive a decision. And on 13 December 2022, Mr Sunak said he expected to “abolish” it by the end of 2023.
If that is to happen it is going to be a very busy December for Home Office officials.
They have been making progress – but as the backlog comes down, it is almost certain more people will be given asylum this year than in any other on record. Also, many claims have been withdrawn by the government.
What has happened to the asylum backlog?
When Mr Sunak made his pledge, there were about 91,000 older claims waiting to be processed.
But dealing with those remaining cases before the end of the year is a big ask, especially as staff are likely to be taking time off towards the end of December.
In November, just under 15,000 people were removed from the backlog – a record by some distance.
Government insiders have told BBC News more than 4,000 cases were being dealt with each week before Robert Jenrick resigned as immigration minister.
There are certainly more people doing the work – the number of asylum caseworker staff has nearly doubled since December 2022.
Unions representing them told BBC News they had been working a lot of overtime and weekends and agency staff had been taken on.
A Home Office official said: “We are on track to eliminate the legacy backlog by the end of the year.
“It has already been reduced by over 80% as a result of our commitment to strengthen the asylum decision-making process.”
While the legacy backlog has decreased, the overall number of people awaiting asylum decisions – including applications made before and after June 2022 – is still high.
This is a fall of about 27,000 cases since December 2022.
Are more people being granted asylum?
The Home Office said that 95% of applicants from those countries are usually granted asylum anyway.
The ISU, a union representing people working on borders and asylum, told BBC News that its members were under pressure and that it was easier to grant asylum than to refuse it.
“There is a great deal of pressure to meet deadlines and that pressure leads to problems with decision-making,” said Lucy Moreton from the ISU.
Are more cases being withdrawn?
Another way the legacy backlog is decreasing is through the number of claims being withdrawn.
When an asylum claim is withdrawn it means it will no longer be considered by the Home Office.
The proportion of claims being withdrawn this year has been high – 27% for 2023 so far, which is higher than the proportion for any year since comparable records began in 2002. The proportion of claims rejected was the lowest in the same period.
Withdrawals include “explicit withdrawals”, where an asylum seeker chooses to withdraw their claim, and “implicit withdrawals”, where the Home Office chooses to withdraw the claim.
In August 2023, the Home Office added new criteria under which an asylum claim can be implicitly withdrawn:
- failure to attend any reporting events unless the applicant demonstrates this was due to circumstances beyond their control
- failure to maintain contact with the Home Office or provide up-to-date contact details
Some lawyers have questioned this.
“It is no coincidence that the criteria under which claims were considered ‘withdrawn’ was broadened within months of the prime minister promising to clear the backlog,” said Shoaib Khan, a human rights barrister.
“The Home Office is clearly scheduling large numbers of asylum interviews and requiring people to regularly report to the Home Office, all in the hope that people will miss some appointment, giving the Home Office a chance to mark the claim as withdrawn and therefore cleared from the backlog.”
The Home Office denied this. Its spokesperson said: “Each claim is carefully considered on a case-by-case-basis and to suggest otherwise is categorically wrong.”
Image source, Getty Images
Rishi Sunak announced a five point plan to tackle illegal migration in December 2022
The issue of implicit claim withdrawals was raised at the Home Affairs Select Committee by Conservative MP Tim Loughton who asked about 17,316 people who had their claims withdrawn between September 2022 and September 2023.
However, when BBC Verify accessed Home Office data it was unable to arrive at the figure quoted to the committee.
The Home Office later told us that “due to a technical error” a large number of withdrawals had been mis-labelled as withdrawn by applicants, when they were actually withdrawn by the government.
It also said the error “had no impact on the processing of cases and the figures will be rectified in future publications”.
At the meeting of MPs, Simon Ridley, who is the second most senior Home Office official, said the high number of withdrawals may be because the legacy claims had been made a long time ago.
“In dealing with a lot of older cases there have been some people who will have absconded before we get to this point.”
Asked where the 17,316 people were, Mr Ridley replied: “I don’t think we know where all those people are.”
Additional reporting by Callum May and Rob England.
William Turner is a seasoned U.K. correspondent with a deep understanding of domestic affairs. With a passion for British politics and culture, he provides insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage of events within the United Kingdom.
