At the end of 2024, the UK government published plans to reform the asylum system in a policy paper, Restoring Order and Control: A statement on the government’s asylum and returns policy.
These changes are only policy proposals and are not yet in force. It is not clear when, and to what extent, the proposals will be implemented. However, the asylum policy proposals include two measures that could significantly increase the need for councils to provide accommodation and financial support to residents who have no recourse to public funds.
Further restrictions on access to benefits
For refugees and other migrants who are entitled to receive public funds (benefits and local authority housing assistance), the government is 'exploring a change to taxpayer-funded benefits to prioritise access for those who are making an economic contribution to the UK'. This may result in imposing additional criteria that migrants must meet to claim or retain benefits.
This proposal will be consulted on later this year.
Note that this is separate to the proposal to remove access to public funds from people who obtain ILR, which is currently being consulted on as part of the government’s proposed changes to settlement rules.
Removing support from ARE asylum-seeking families
The government proposes to:
- Increase returns for asylum-seeking families who have become appeal rights exhausted (ARE) by introducing larger financial incentives for families returning voluntarily and pursuing enforcement action
- Consult on commencing measures in the Immigration Act 2016, which would enable the Home Office to remove asylum support from ARE families who do not have a genuine obstacle to leaving the UK
Currently, asylum-seeking families continue to be supported by the Home Office if their asylum claim is unsuccessful and they become ARE. The Immigration Act 2016 includes measures that would enable the Home Office to withdraw asylum support from asylum-seeking families who become ARE, unless there is a genuine obstacle preventing return. Under the 2016 Act, once a family becomes ARE, Home Office asylum support would only continue in very limited circumstances.
The 2016 Act also contains measures that change the legislative basis under which councils in England can provide accommodation and financial support to ARE asylum-seeking families and other families without lawful status in the UK. It is not yet clear whether the government intends to implement the changes to local authority support alongside removing asylum support for ARE families.
We are expecting the government to consult on commencing the 2016 Act and the process for enforcing the removal of families later this year.
Other policy proposals
Other proposed changes include:
- Issuing refugees with leave to remain for 30 months at a time rather than for a period of 5 years, reviewing their protection needs each time leave is renewed
- Increasing the qualifying period for settlement for refugees from 5 to 20 years, unless they switch into a new 'protection work and study route' and qualify to apply for settlement earlier in line with the new ‘earned settlement’ proposals
- Introducing new requirements for family reunion
- Maintaining existing resettlement commitments, reforming refugee sponsorship, and introducing capped routes for refugee and displaced students to study in the UK and for skilled refugees and displaced people to come to the UK for work
- Revoking the Home Office duty to provide asylum support to people claiming asylum who would otherwise be destitute
- Denying asylum support to people who have the right to work, deliberately made themselves destitute, worked illegally, failed to comply with a removal direction, committed a criminal offence, refused to relocate to a different accommodation site or been disruptive in accommodation
- Requiring individuals to contribute towards the cost of their asylum support, where they have some assets or income but not enough to support themselves independently
- Restricting when and how human rights-based immigration applications can be made to limit Article 8 family and private life claims
- Introducing a new appeals body and streamlining the appeals process, expanding capacity to hear appeals
- Trialling artificial intelligence and facial age estimation technology to carry out age assessments
Implications
Placing further restrictions on migrants' access to benefits, placing refugees on a longer and more insecure settlement pathway, and restricting or removing access to asylum support, are all changes that are likely to lead to increased destitution and homelessness. The asylum reforms need to be considered alongside the government's plans to make settlement in the UK more difficult to achieve for many migrants, which are currently being consulted on and may give rise to similar destitution risks.
Although councils receive funding to support asylum dispersal and facilitate refugee resettlement, they are not provided with any financial assistance to meet the costs incurred by social care of providing accommodation and financial support to residents who have no recourse to public funds. Any policies that drive up need for this support or make it more difficult for people to obtain leave to remain whilst they are being supported by social care, will add to the £94 million that councils collectively spent delivering this vital safety-net in the last financial year.
Removing asylum support from ARE families has the potential to create a significant transfer of costs from central to local government, even if changes are made to the legislative basis under which councils are required to deliver support. It is therefore imperative that, through funding, the government mitigates current financial impacts on local government that arise from supporting families and adults with care needs who have no recourse to public funds. The government should also consult directly with councils to understand the full impacts before any changes are put in place that are likely to create additional need for this essential safety-net or that may put the welfare of children at risk.