Month: July 2025

23 July 2025: Update from ICIBI

My report on the Home Office use of age assessments was published yesterday (22 July 2025). The report was sent to the Home Secretary on 20 May 2025, so publication fell just outside the agreed 8-week target timescale. I made eight recommendations designed to improve training, guidance, assurance, resources and communication and I am pleased that all were accepted.  

When a young person claims asylum in the UK, the Home Office must determine whether they will be treated as an adult or as a child while their claim is being processed. The focus is on chronological age, reflecting the fact that immigration and other relevant legislation is framed around 18 years as the bright line between childhood and adulthood. However, the binary nature of the determination and the absence of a foolproof ‘test’ of chronological age mean that the Home Office will sometimes get it wrong. This is clearly a cause for concern, especially where a child is denied the rights and protections to which they are entitled.

Continue reading “ICIBI Age assessment report, also UK border officials to use AI to verify ages of child asylum seekers”

17 July 2025: Hansard: Tom Gordon MP mentioned his visit to the QARN AGM in the Commons this week in a question about the Afghan Relocations scheme:

“A couple of weeks ago at a Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network event in Harrogate, I met constituents who came to the UK from Afghanistan under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme, and who still have family living in Afghanistan. They showed me photos of their loved ones, some smiling and some a lot more brutal and bleak after attacks they had faced. The statement earlier this week focused rightly on the Afghanistan Response Route scheme and the associated super-injunction. Will the Leader of the House liaise with her Cabinet colleagues and look for further opportunities for MPs to meet relevant Ministers to discuss existing applications under the ARAP scheme, such as those of my constituents and their families?”

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2025-07-17/debates/99911FD4-617A-407A-BA82-8DF8F1D54E9D/BusinessOfTheHouse

15 July 2025: BBC: Thousands of Afghans have moved to the UK under a secret scheme which was set up after a British official inadvertently leaked their data, it can be revealed.

In February 2022, the personal details of nearly 19,000 people who had applied to move to the UK after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan were leaked.

The previous government learned of the breach in August 2023 when some of the details appeared on Facebook.

A new resettlement scheme for those on the leaked list was set up nine months later, and has seen 4,500 Afghans arrive in the UK so far.

But the existence of the leak and relocations were kept secret after the government obtained a super-injunction stopping it from becoming public.

Details of the major data breach, the response and the number of Afghans granted the right to live in the UK as a result only came to light on Tuesday after a High Court judge ruled, external the gagging order should be lifted.

The leak contained the names, contact details and some family information of people potentially at risk of harm from the Taliban.

The government also revealed on Tuesday:

Continue reading “Scrutiny vacuum following data breach endangering Afghans”

11 July 2025: Right To Remain: Closure of Safe Routes for Afghans: Changes to the Immigration Rules

On 1^st July 2025, the UK Government introduced significant changes to the Immigration Rules. While some of these changes were expected following the White Paper published on 12^th May 2025, others came without warning.  

One of the most concerning and unexpected changes is the abrupt closure of two key resettlement schemes for Afghans: the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS).  We previously wrote about these schemes here. 

Continue reading “Closure of Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy – ARAP”