LABOUR Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is planning an overhaul of the asylum appeals system as it tries to cut the number of asylum seekers staying in hotels while they await a ruling.
A new, independent body will be established, staffed by independent adjudicators, with the aim of hearing cases more quickly.
In a post on the Home Office website yesterday, Cooper said: ‘We are determined to substantially reduce the number of people in the asylum system as part of our plan to end asylum hotels. Already since the election we have reduced the backlog of people waiting for initial decisions by 24% and increased failed asylum returns by 30%.
‘But we cannot carry on with these completely unacceptable delays in appeals as a result of the system we have inherited which mean that failed asylum seekers stay in the system for years on end at huge cost to the taxpayer.’
The Home Office statement said: ‘Asylum appeals will be overhauled and speeded up to clear the backlog, accelerate returns and end hotel use under some of the most significant changes to the asylum system in decades.
‘As part of efforts to fix the broken asylum system the government inherited and end the use of asylum hotels, a new independent body to deal with asylum appeals made up of independent professional adjudicators, will be established to hear cases more quickly.
‘The proposals, driven jointly by the Home Office and Ministry of Justice, will reduce the number of asylum appeal cases in the system by ensuring cases awaiting decision can be heard faster, in turn reducing the backlog and creating a more efficient system. They are driven by serious concerns among Ministers that existing measures including increased investment in court sitting days are not delivering the pace of change needed to clear the asylum appeal backlog.
‘The new body will be fully independent of government with safeguards to ensure high standards and is expected to use the expertise of independent professionally trained adjudicators focusing particularly on asylum appeals, and will allow capacity to be surged so cases can be cleared. It will have statutory powers to prioritise cases from those in asylum accommodation and foreign national offenders.
‘Currently, there is a backlog of 106,000 cases waiting to be heard by the First-Tier Tribunal, including at least 51,000 asylum appeals. Wait times are increasing, with an average wait time of 53 weeks.
‘As initial asylum decisions have accelerated, court delays over appeals are now the biggest cause of pressure in the asylum accommodation system which is costing the taxpayer billions of pounds each year.
‘To relieve pressure on the system, the government has provided funding to increase the number of sitting days in the First-tier Tribunal, with the aim of ensuring it operates at maximum capacity.
‘However, the tribunal cannot keep up with fluctuating and increasing demand, so an alternative approach is needed that can provide wider and more flexible capacity.
‘Ministers are also introducing a new legal requirement for a 24-week timeframe for the First Tier Tribunal to determine asylum appeals by those receiving asylum accommodation support and appeals by foreign offenders.
‘The government will set out further details of our plans to fast-track cases in the asylum system this autumn.’