Resource

The Public Accounts Committee’s report lays bare what organisations like Asylum Aid have long known through our daily work with people seeking protection: the UK’s asylum system is not only inefficient and costly, it is fundamentally failing the very people it is meant to protect. The findings confirm a system characterised by poor decision-making, chronic delays, and a lack of coherent strategy for reform.

Behind the report’s stark statistics are real people – survivors of war, torture, trafficking and persecution – who are struggling to navigate a system that is complex, hostile and too often dehumanising. People seeking asylum are treated as cases to be processed rather than individuals trying to rebuild their lives with dignity and safety.

The Committee’s finding that 42% of sampled asylum decisions contained significant or critical errors is deeply concerning. In our experience, many decisions are poorly reasoned and fail to properly engage with the evidence presented. This leads to a high number of appeals, with people forced into lengthy and distressing legal processes simply to correct flawed initial decisions. Far from reducing delays, this approach creates further inefficiencies, pushing individuals into months, often years, of additional uncertainty while waiting for Tribunal hearings. During this time, people remain stuck in asylum accommodation, unable to move forward with their lives.

At the heart of this problem is a lack of investment in expertise and quality decision-making. Poor-quality decisions not only harm individuals but also undermine confidence in the system and increase overall costs.

Access to legal advice is another critical issue highlighted by the wider context of this report. The UK’s immigration and asylum systems are highly complex, and fair outcomes depend on individuals being able to access timely, high-quality legal support. Yet 63% of people in England and Wales live in areas without an immigration or asylum legal aid provider. Legal aid rates have remained largely stagnant for years, forcing many experienced practitioners out of the sector and leaving huge gaps in provision. Without urgent investment to make legal aid work sustainable, the system will continue to produce poor decisions and prolonged delays. And as the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) told the Committee, a lack of legal representation means more support is needed from Tribunal staff, slowing down appeals and aggravating existing backlogs.

Rather than addressing these underlying causes of delay and inefficiency, the government risks adding further pressure to an already overstretched system. In March, it announced rule changes that cut in half the standard grant of refugee leave from five years to 2.5 years for newly recognised refugees and those granted humanitarian protection. This will create additional bureaucracy and administrative burdens, generating more repeat applications and decision-making processes while disproportionately affecting women, children and survivors of gender-based violence.

The report also sheds light on the enormous financial and human costs of the government’s reliance on asylum accommodation, particularly hotels. As the Committee notes, this has resulted in “obscene profits” for private contractors, while people seeking asylum are left living in conditions that are often wholly unsuitable. We have witnessed first-hand how overcrowding, lack of privacy, poor nutrition and inadequate support can severely impact individuals’ physical and mental health, especially for those already recovering from trauma. This reliance on hotels has been the result of political choices.

While the government has committed to ending the use of asylum hotels, its continued reliance on large sites, including ex-military barracks, raises serious concerns. We have consistently warned that such settings are inappropriate and harmful. They isolate individuals, exacerbate mental health conditions, and prevent integration. Replacing one harmful form of accommodation with another does not represent meaningful change. As the Home Office admitted to the Committee, it doesn’t even save money.

Asylum Aid calls on the government to act decisively on the evidence presented in this report: to invest in skilled decision-makers, restore and strengthen access to legal aid, and end the use of harmful accommodation models. Above all, reforms must centre the rights, dignity and wellbeing of people seeking protection. Only then can the UK build an asylum system that is fair, efficient and just.