25 June 2004
Home Office minister Des Browne has vowed to make the processing of asylum applications more efficient after the National Audit Office claimed that new requirements to speed up decisions had cost hundreds of millions of pounds.
An NAO study published on June 23 claims that policy changes on asylum applications might have cost £500m, with at least £200m resulting from appeals and other costs following the transfer of case workers to removals work.
The transfer meant mistakes were often not corrected early, contributing to large numbers of appeals. About 75% of unsuccessful applicants now appeal against decisions, raising costs, for example, for housing.
Improving the quality and speed of asylum decisions urges the Immigration and Nationality Directorate, part of the Home Office, to 'make further improvements to the quality of decision-making' to reduce appeals and the time involved.
Auditor general Sir John Bourn said: 'The complex challenges faced by case-workers should not be underestimated. Improved recruitment, more extensive training and more specialisation would improve the quality of decision-making.'
Browne said: 'We have made considerable progress to improve the quality and speed of initial decisions. More than 80% of cases now have an initial decision within two months and the number of undecided applications has also fallen.
'However, we are not complacent. The target this year is to ensure that at least 80% of initial decisions are categorised as effective or fully effective.'
But Browne welcomed the NAO study as understanding the 'significant progress' Whitehall had made in reducing the backlog of undecided applicants from 120,000 in 1999 to 18,100 by the end of March 2004.
The wider attempt to speed up the applications process is also welcomed, despite the problem with mistakes. Between October and December 2003, 80% of applications were decided within two months, compared with 61% in 2001/02.
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