Ministers told MPs that the Home Office has lost contact with nearly 6,000 people whose asylum claims were “withdrawn” in the year ending September 2023. In a letter published on Wednesday, legal migration minister Tom Pursglove and illegal migration minister Michael Tomlinson refuted the claim that all 17,316 people were lost, but admitted the department has lost contact with almost a third of them.
The ministers explained that 5,598 of those who withdrew their asylum applications in the year ending September 2023, or 32 percent of them, are still in the UK, and steps are being taken by the Home Office to urgently reestablish contact with them. Additionally, 3,144 individuals, or 18 percent, are no longer in the UK; 2,643, or 15 percent, have re-engaged with the Home Office and been granted lawful immigration status; and 5,931, or 35 percent, have re-engaged with the Home Office and their cases are being dealt with by Home Office teams, including immigration enforcement, appeals, and litigation teams.
Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, expressed disbelief at the staggering revelation and criticized ministers for ineffective management. Home Office officials previously stated that more than 5,500 Albanians have been returned in 2023.
A rule change last year, which means that those who fail to return a questionnaire within 30 days may have their cases treated as “withdrawn,” is also a likely cause of the hike in withdrawn cases. The change was made in an effort to speed up processing as part of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s pledge to “abolish” the asylum applications backlog. As a result, the Home Office declared earlier this month that the promise was fulfilled, but critics accused the government of making misleading claims.