As a result of hiring inexperienced and low-paid workers to handle asylum applications, the Home Office is plagued by delays in processing asylum claims.
According to staff, this slowed down decisions, resulting in lengthy, costly hotel stays for asylum seekers.
The latest official numbers for June 2022 indicate that about 130,00 persons are awaiting a judgment.
The Home Office announced an increase in the number of claims being processed.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman is scheduled to appear before the Home Affairs Select Committee shortly, where she will address questions from members of parliament regarding asylum and immigration.
Three department employees talked with Newsnight to express concern about the implications of Home Office decisions regarding asylum seekers.
A department employee with years of expertise stated, “Making and writing decisions is more difficult than people believe.
“They are hiring a huge number of unskilled employees who must be trained to complete this task, which takes time, causing the backlog to rise.
“And it’s young employees who are exposed to these horrible stories while earning poor earnings; what’s the incentive to remain?”
“There is none… Therefore, they depart and the company hires someone else, and the cycle continues.”
According to the most recent Home Office statistics, as of the end of June this year, 127,026 asylum petitions have yet to be processed.
This is roughly four times the number of cases awaiting a decision at the end of June 2018, when there were 33,035 pending asylum applications.
Another Home Office staffer reported working “extensive and arduous” hours.
“Each day, individuals labor inhumane hours. “They are recruiting more decision-makers, but some of them have never worked in this field, so it takes them longer to learn, which slows everything down,” they claimed.
“It takes a while to bring them up to speed, and my concern is that the wrong judgments could be made that impact the lives of vulnerable individuals.”
According to those familiar with the Home Office’s operations, the “poor civil service” pay grade for the position can also “put off” potential candidates.
According to the Institute for Government, the Home Office has hundreds more caseworkers handling asylum petitions than it had a decade ago, yet they are making fewer decisions.
In 2021/22, 614 caseworkers made an average of five asylum decisions per staff member per month, compared to 380 caseworkers in 2011/12 who made an average of 13.7 decisions per month.
More than 37,000 asylum seekers presently reside in hotels in the United Kingdom, costing the state nearly £7 million every day. The length of stay in hotels and the associated expense to the taxpayer is determined by the rate of backlog clearance.
The Home Office stated that it was a “short-term solution” while it worked diligently with local authorities to find them suitable housing.
In addition, it has “raised asylum caseworkers by 80 percent to more than a thousand.” It stated that “a successful pilot program to increase the number of claims processed is now being implemented nationwide.”
Yvette Cooper of Labour stated that the process was “a disaster” and that “decision-making has collapsed.”
The shadow home secretary stated that there had been “repeated warnings” concerning the shortage of specialists and that inadequate training and supervision were to blame for the case backlog.
She told that the Nationality and Borders Bill has caused “an additional six-month delay” to thousands of cases.
Ms. Cooper stated that no decisions were being made and that the Home Office’s “own law has contributed to complexity and expenditures.”
This year, around 41,000 migrants crossed the English Channel in small boats.
The Home Office announced on Tuesday that it had closed the Manston migrant processing center in Kent, a holding facility for migrants who arrive in the United Kingdom by small boats.
It was criticized for the conditions at the center, where thousands of migrants were housed in tents throughout the fall.
A man who was staying at Manston and became ill on Saturday has died in hospital, and an investigation has been initiated into his passing.
