National Audit Office publishes analysis of the asylum system

The National Audit Office has published their report “An analysis of the asylum system“. The report identifies “four key enablers needed for an effective, value for money asylum system”. These are: a whole system approach, addressing fundamental barriers, timely, robust, shared data and a resilient, strategic approach to capacity and workforce.

Unsurprisingly to any regular readers, the report highlights problems with Home Office data as an issue. The report also notes that:

increases in speed of processing have sometimes come at the expense of the quality of decisions, and improvements in one area have shunted problems elsewhere. There has also been no realistic approach to the fact that in a significant number of cases it is not possible to return people whose claims have been refused. As a result, the system has incurred significant costs – primarily on accommodation and support – that might have been avoided.

It is good to see capacity in the legal aid sector recognised as a problem that limits the effective functioning of the asylum system, as this is too often overlooked. 

I recommend scrolling through this incredibly useful data visualisation page, which the report describes as representing “visually the relationships and interactions across departmental and organisational boundaries in managing asylum.” I found it particularly useful to look at how cases have been moved from the initial decision backlog into the appeals backlog. There is also a section looking at asylum accommodation. The below graphic looks at what happened to 5,000 people as they moved through the asylum system:

The report summary notes:

12 The system for processing asylum claims needs to be efficient, resilient to fluctuating demand, and demonstrably fair – otherwise it puts at risk not just public money, but the life chances of people seeking asylum and the government’s duties to them and to UK citizens. However, without a whole-system view and clear, agreed outcomes there has been no firm basis for the government departments and other bodies in the system to work together in pursuit of an efficient and sustainable system.

13 Our analysis shows how efforts to improve the system in recent years have often been short-term and narrowly focused on one area of the system in reaction to large backlogs and sharply increasing costs. Increases in speed of processing have sometimes come at the expense of the quality of decisions, and improvements in one area have shunted problems elsewhere. There has also been no realistic approach to the fact that in a significant number of cases it is not possible to return people whose claims have been refused. As a result, the system has incurred significant costs – primarily on accommodation and support – that might have been avoided.

14 In the course of our system analysis work we have been encouraged by many examples of officials taking action to address the root causes of quality failures, understand and model parts of the system to improve productivity, and work across organisational boundaries. But these changes are somewhat piecemeal and not yet fully embedded. Moreover, the system is still hampered by a lack of robust, interoperable data to support high quality decision-making at each stage.

Several recommendations are made, including that the government should present a strategic plan to Parliamnet by the end of next year for implementing the proposed new asylum model.