28.9.2020: The UK Government’s Home Office are planning to outsource asylum interviews to private contractors. They claim that the move is intended to deal with a backlog of over 40,000 cases. The move has sent chills amongst some people seeking asylum, and wider communities with experience of outsourced state services, and especially amongst those who have endured an interview process that was already dysfunctional before the COVID-19 pandemic and crisis.
Outsourcing the interviews would mean that whichever company gets the contract – G4S, Capita, Mitie, Sopra Steria or Serco – would be able to access highly sensitive and confidential information that could put peoples’ lives at risk. Could any of these private companies be trusted with access to sensitive information? Could they be trusted to employ case workers who are capable of creating safe spaces for people to tell their harrowing stories? Could they ask the right questions in the right ways and not intimidate people?
Considering the range and scale of scandals of these companies that demonstrate a lack of integrity, why are they continuing to be granted Government contracts? How could people being interviewed feel able to share sensitive information, at an early stage in a new communication, with workers in such companies? None of these companies have any incentive to enable people to tell their story: their technique is not compassion but production line. How can people tell their story to an organisation that has end-to-end involvement in a hostile immigration system including running detention facilities and driving people to the planes for removal? Further, these private contractors are notoriously difficult to hold to account if any issues arise.
There are much better examples of previously successful and progressive moves:
- The Legacy Programme introduced by the UK Government of 2007 to deal with a backlog of 450,000 asylum cases. This ran up to 2011 and was implemented by setting up a Case Resolution Directorate within the Home Office involving an estimated 900 caseworkers. The majority of the cases were concluded within this timeframe.
- Making use of available technologies to facilitate granting settled or pre-settled status to more than a million people in a relatively short space of time, the EU settlement scheme illustrates how technology can be usefully applied to work through large caseloads with speed and in safety during the current pandemic.
Taking a pragmatic approach, this Government can introduce something similar to the Legacy Programme right now that addresses the current backlog of cases and includes granting Status Now to the estimated 800,000 to 1.2 million undocumented migrants currently in the UK.
In financial terms, the costs of setting up commissioning, selecting, training, and overseeing the work of a for-profit private company is huge in itself, on top of the costs associated with acting upon decisions made. At this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, our alternative is humane, far less costly, and pragmatic: give people Leave to Remain so that they can protect themselves, stay healthy, work safely, access appropriate resources if they need them, be part of protecting the whole community and offer labour when and where it’s needed – both during and after this crisis
Fundamentally, this is about political will. In the short to medium to long term, granting Status Now 4 All will save lives and livelihoods, reduce suffering for many members of society forced to live on the margins, and free up valuable resources, including the 100s of millions of pounds wasted on Immigration Enforcement each year [pdf report], in a system that continues to fail in adequately dealing with past and present asylum and immigration applications.
Status Now Network
28 Sep 2020 From PCS: Outsourcing of asylum interview process – deeply concerning and wrong, says PCS
PCS has condemned plans to bring in a private contractor to run interviews of asylum seekers.
Members in the Home Office raised the alarm after they became aware of the pilot scheme, which could see vulnerable people fleeing persecution have their applications dealt with by private contractors like Serco.
Face-to-face interviews have been restarted following the outbreak of Covid-19 global pandemic.
The Home Office says that due to a backlog of asylum claims, it is exploring “many options” and did not rule out the move but denied that the service had been outsourced.
PCS has a number of concerns about selling off a key part of the asylum process to a private contractor, including the impact on the civil service code, whether the private contractor will be exempt from human rights legislation and the fact that contracting out undermines the public service ethos within the civil service.
General secretary Mark Serwotka said: “It is wrong and concerning that the Home Office is considering contracting out such an important service to a private contractor.
“People seeking refuge in this country should be treated with respect and dignity and outsourcing the service to a company that is solely interested in private profit, is at odds with those values.
“Our members don’t need private contractors coming in and taking over services. What they need is a well-resourced, well-staffed and humane department, dedicated to helping those in need.”
PCS is calling on the Home Office to fully consult us and has urged an in-house solution to be found.
PCS has condemned plans to bring in a private contractor to run interviews of asylum seekers.
Members in the Home Office raised the alarm after they became aware of the pilot scheme, which could see vulnerable people fleeing persecution have their applications dealt with by private contractors like Serco.
Face-to-face interviews have been restarted following the outbreak of Covid-19 global pandemic.
The Home Office says that due to a backlog of asylum claims, it is exploring “many options” and did not rule out the move but denied that the service had been outsourced.
PCS has a number of concerns about selling off a key part of the asylum process to a private contractor, including the impact on the civil service code, whether the private contractor will be exempt from human rights legislation and the fact that contracting out undermines the public service ethos within the civil service.
General secretary Mark Serwotka said: “It is wrong and concerning that the Home Office is considering contracting out such an important service to a private contractor.
“People seeking refuge in this country should be treated with respect and dignity and outsourcing the service to a company that is solely interested in private profit, is at odds with those values.
“Our members don’t need private contractors coming in and taking over services. What they need is a well-resourced, well-staffed and humane department, dedicated to helping those in need.”
PCS is calling on the Home Office to fully consult us and has urged an in-house solution to be found.