Asylum reforms critical to addressing current challenges

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has today published a comprehensive audit of the UK's asylum intake, registration and screening procedures, which includes 28 recommendations for change. The report concludes that Home Office Staff, who work commendably under very difficult circumstances, are being hampered in the performance of their duties by an inefficient and unnecessarily complicated system.

Fair and efficient registration and screening procedures are the first stage of a well-functioning asylum system. For refugees, they ensure access to status determination procedures and to the support and services necessary to live in dignity and safety while their claims are being processed, as well as laying the foundation for future integration. For state authorities, they facilitate the effective deployment of resources and the triaging of claims where appropriate, and protect against fraud, abuse and risks to public safety. Inefficiencies, a lack of training and resources accordingly create serious risks for the welfare of refugees and asylum-seekers while undermining the effectiveness of the system overall.

In summary, UNHCR observed Home Office staff working very hard under difficult conditions, driven by a commitment to support each other and to promote, as far as possible, the welfare of the asylum-seekers for whom they were responsible. They were expected to complete a wide range of important tasks – from security checks to accurate data entry to interviewing to making legally significant decisions – in a single appointment. This often proved impossible, due to inadequate training and/or insufficient staff to deal with the number of applicants. Administrative and information systems were under- resourced and poorly designed, leading to hours of wasted or duplicated work. Although they were proud of what they were accomplishing, staff at all levels recognized that the situation was unsustainable.

In recent years, the UK asylum system has faced unique challenges related to COVID-19 and the departure from common European asylum and data-sharing systems, as well as an increasing number of irregular asylum-seeker arrivals. During the same period, new rules making certain asylum claims “inadmissible” in the UK depending on a person’s travel route, together with plans to remove some asylum-seekers to Rwanda, have made the reliability of the information collected at screening and the fairness of the screening process even more critical. The increased complexity of the current two-tier system (under the Nationality and Borders Act) has created additional work for Home Office staff who work in the asylum intake, registration and screening units and has heightened potential risks for asylum-seekers.

UNHCR’s Audit of the UK Home Office’s Registration and Screening Procedures made the following key findings: 

• Home Office staff are working very hard under difficult conditions- however the current registration and screening systems expect staff to do too much, too quickly, and with inadequate training, facilities, guidance, and oversight.
• Administrative and information systems are under-resourced and poorly designed, leading to hours of wasted or duplicated work.
• UNHCR observed or was told about numerous risks to the welfare of asylum-seekers, including instances of trafficking and vulnerability being overlooked and teenage children and victims of torture and trafficking being detained. Registration and screening records were often incomplete, inaccurate, or unreliable, and laws and published policies were not complied with. Central aspects of the screening interview were routinely delegated to interpreters. The audit concludes that there is a real risk that decisions based on information collected at screening will be flawed.

UNHCR’s recommendations cover all aspects of the registration and screening system, and include suggestions to:

• Redesign registration and screening processes to encourage disclosure and identify vulnerabilities;
• Provide staff with better training and interviewing skills to improve the reliability of information and overall welfare of asylum-seekers;
• Enhance safeguarding and case management through the introduction of interpreters at the initial stages of contact;
• Recognize that rapid screening processes are not appropriate for more complex legal findings which require additional details and protections – including inadmissibility and illegal entry determinations; and
• Re-evaluate policies that complicate screening requirements and frustrate overall efficiencies - in particular with regard to inadmissibility decisions that merely leave asylum-seekers in limbo at a higher cost to the UK Government.

Vicky Tennant, UNHCR Representative to the United Kingdom said: 

“Fair and efficient asylum systems help ensure that refugees are able to access the protection they need and to start rebuilding their lives. Equally important, they help maintain public confidence by allowing governments to pursue arrangements for the return of people who are found not to have international protection needs. Flawed and inefficient screening procedures are currently undermining the UK’s asylum capacity – placing vulnerable people at risk and adding to the pressure on public resources.”

Read the report. 

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Notes to Editors     

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is a global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people. We work to ensure that everybody has the right to seek asylum and find refuge from violence or persecution.

A key part of the work in UNHCR’s UK office is assisting the UK Government to improve its asylum system. The competent authority for determining asylum claims in the UK is the Home Office.

Our quality improvement and assurance project commenced in 2004 and has evolved over time: the Quality Initiative Project ran from 2004 to 2009; the Quality Integration Project from 2010-2019; and the Quality Protection Partnership (QPP) began in 2019.

The project was established in line with UNHCR’s supervision of the UK’s implementation of the 1951 Refugee Convention (Article 35), and with agreement and funding from the UK Home Office. 

Between March and July 2021, UNHCR conducted a desk review of existing policies, standard operating procedures and caselaw and presented initial recommendations to the Home Office. Between June and November 2021, UNHCR staff visited registration and screening locations across the UK, spoke to more than 70 members of Home Office staff at all ranks, and observed 32 screening interviews, seven child welfare interviews, and four truncated interviews. This was followed by an audit of the records of those cases, as well as of 50 randomly selected files of asylum claims made during the same period.