On 20 February, Home Secretary James Cleverly sacked the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, thereby delaying – potentially until after a general election – publication of potentially highly critical reports on the Home Office’s proposed Rwanda scheme (see NI Human Rights Commission advice on the most recent bill here) and use of hotels as asylum accommodation.

This comes on top of the Home Office’s failure to publish  over a dozen different ICIBI reports – including a Northern Ireland-specific report – on Home Office practices since April last year. The sacking came near the end of Inspector David Neal’s first term in office (his predecessors had all served two full three-year terms).

On 21 February, UK Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery Tom Pursglove issued a written answer to a question from Labour MP Paula Barker about any government assessment of the potential benefits of allowing asylum seekers to work after six months of waiting for a decision on their claim. The Minister wrote:

"asylum seekers who have had their claim outstanding for 12 months or more, through no fault of their own, are allowed to work. Those permitted to work are restricted to jobs on the Shortage Occupation List. This is based on expert advice from the independent Migration Advisory Committee" (emphasis added)

In fact, as far back as its 2021 annual report the Migration Advisory Committee not only questioned Home Office policy and recommended a review, but also put forward the suggestion of allowing asylum seekers to work, in any occupation, after six months:

"the MAC would recommend the Government review their policy on allowing asylum seekers to work. One option might be to allow applicants to work if an initial decision has not been made within six months. We also question the value of the current restriction that allows work after 12 months only on SOL [Shortage Occupation List] occupations – this was never the purpose of the SOL, and the original reasoning behind this restriction does not seem to be particularly coherent." (p32 - emphasis added)

these two interventions raise serious concerns about what appears to be overt sidelining by the Home Office of the mechanisms established to scrutinise and oversee its work.

The MAC repeated this view as recently as October 2023 (pp. 16, 33-34). The government appear either to have not read the MAC’s advice, or to be counting on no one else having read it. Taken together, these two interventions raise serious concerns about what appears to be overt sidelining by the Home Office of the mechanisms established to scrutinise and oversee its work.

Image caption: #KindEconomy activists offer an alternative to the Home Office’s hostile environment

What is the Independent Chief Inspectorate of Borders and Immigration and why does it matter?

The ICIBI was established by law in 2007, to “help improve the efficiency, effectiveness and consistency of the Home Office’s border and immigration functions through unfettered, impartial and evidence-based inspection”. The aim of the “independent scrutiny” of its 30 staff members, according to a speedily-issued job advert for Neal’s now-vacant post, is “providing security, confidence and assurance as to [the] effectiveness and efficiency [of the UK’s border and immigration functions]”.

In the past the ICIBI has published highly critical reports into Home Office management of asylum accommodation provision (2018), unsatisfactory conditions at former military barracks being used to house asylum seekers (2021), and the use of hotels for housing unaccompanied children (2022).

One of the currently pending unpublished reports is on the 2023 inspection of contingency asylum accommodation for families with children in Northern Ireland, undertaken at the request of authorities here in light of concerns about issues including breaches of international human rights standards.

What is the Migration Advisory Committee and why does it matter?

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) is an independent public body set up in 2007 to provide transparent, evidence-based advice to the UK government on migration issues.

Current UK government policy is to bar asylum seekers from working until they have been waiting twelve months for their claim to be decided, and then only if they qualify for a position on the government’s highly selective ‘shortage occupation list’ of largely professional and specialised posts. As described above, the MAC does not endorse this policy – despite recent ministerial claims to the contrary.

The MAC’s 2023 annual report, released in December, contains even more uncomfortable reading for a Home Office prone to sensationalism and fear-mongering about immigration: more information can be found in the accompanying policy brief.