The government is planning a significant overhaul of the asylum appeals system in an effort to reduce the number of migrants residing in hotels while awaiting rulings on their cases.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has stated that she is implementing practical measures to address unacceptable delays, including the establishment of a new body staffed by independent adjudicators.
The government has faced increasing pressure to lessen its reliance on asylum hotels, highlighted by recent demonstrations held across the UK over the weekend, marking the latest in a series of protests against the policy.
In response, the Refugee Council told BBC that “getting decisions right first time” is the optimal method for “getting fewer appeals”.
Ministers have pledged to discontinue hotel use within this Parliament, yet 32,000 asylum seekers remain housed in such accommodations.
Cooper acknowledged that, while initial decisions on asylum applications have been expedited, “unacceptable delays” persist when applicants choose to appeal.
Currently, the average wait time for an appeal hearing is just over a year, with 51,000 cases still pending a decision.
During this period, unsuccessful asylum seekers are accommodated at taxpayer expense.
To address this, a new panel of independent adjudicators will be appointed to handle appeals, a measure ministers anticipate will be more efficient than the court system.
The government has promised to provide further details on how it intends to accelerate case processing in the autumn.
The Conservatives have described the asylum system as being in disarray, while Reform UK has advocated for the mass deportation of individuals arriving via illegal or irregular routes.
Imran Hussain of the Refugee Council told the BBC that while reducing appeals is necessary, minimizing errors is “the fastest way of getting the appeals backlog down”.
He asserted that approximately half of appeals result in the original decision being overturned due to “the decision was found to be flawed in some way”.
“It’s really important that, when we’re talking about these life-and-death decisions on asylum, there is judicial oversight, so the courts can intervene if the law isn’t being kept to,” he said.
Recent weeks have seen increasing discontent regarding the housing of asylum seekers.
On Saturday, demonstrations took place in various parts of England, including Bristol, Liverpool, and London, as well as in Mold in Wales, Perth in Scotland, and County Antrim in Northern Ireland.
Police intervened to separate opposing groups in numerous locations where anti-racism campaigners staged counter-demonstrations.
At least 15 arrests were made across the UK on Saturday, including a 37-year-old woman arrested on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker in Bristol. Eleven arrests occurred in Liverpool.
Demonstrations continued on Sunday, with protesters gathering outside a Holiday Inn in Birmingham, where they were observed peering through hotel doors and climbing a nearby lamp post.
Police also guarded the entrance to the Britannia Hotel in London’s Canary Wharf, where approximately 20 protesters assembled.
Epping, in Essex, has been a focal point for protests since July, with thousands demonstrating outside the Bell Hotel after a resident asylum seeker was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in the town.
On Tuesday, the High Court granted the council a temporary injunction to block asylum seekers from being housed in the Bell Hotel, after it argued that the hotel had breached local planning controls by changing its use, resulting in events that were a public safety risk.
Those currently in residence must be relocated by 16:00 on 12 September.
The government is seeking the right to appeal against the High Court ruling.
Cooper stated that the government is committed to closing all asylum hotels but that it must be done in “a properly managed way”.
Several other councils are reportedly considering legal action following the ruling, including Tory-controlled Hillingdon, which currently houses 2,238 asylum seekers.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch published an open letter urging Conservative council leaders “to take the same steps if your legal advice supports it”, while Reform UK’s Nigel Farage wrote in the Telegraph that councils controlled by his party would do “everything in their power” to follow Epping’s lead.
According to figures published by the Home Office earlier this week, 131 of more than 300 local authorities in the UK currently house asylum seekers in “contingency accommodation”, primarily consisting of hotels.
Of those 131 areas, 74 are fully or partially led by Labour, 30 by the Liberal Democrats, 19 by the Conservatives, nine by the Green Party and one by Reform UK.
The site – described as “squalid” by a judge in 2021 – was due to close in September.
The 37-year-old remains under investigation over an alleged assault on an emergency worker.
Protests over the use of hotels for housing asylum seekers have been held across the UK.
Protests over the use of hotels for housing asylum seekers and counter protests have been taking place.
A demonstration by people opposed to asylum seekers being housed in hotels takes place in Bristol.