By Mark Smulian
The backlog of asylum claims made under a new ‘faster’ system has more than doubled since its introduction in 2007, according to the National Audit Office.
The backlog of asylum claims made under a new ‘faster’ system has more than doubled since its introduction in 2007, according to the National Audit Office.In its report, Management of asylum applications by the UK Border Agency, published on January 23, the NAO said the number of new cases awaiting decisions since the launch of the New Asylum Model had risen to 8,700 by June 2008.
The NAO also said the UK Border Agency would find it ‘challenging’ to meet its 2011 target of concluding some 450,000 cases outstanding from before 2007. The agency handled 4,000 such cases a month but would need to increase this rate to 10,000 to hit its target.
NAO head Tim Burr said the agency should gather information earlier and enforce its decisions quicker or ‘there is a risk that a new backlog of unresolved cases will be created, adding to the existing backlog of cases’.
Edward Leigh, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said the agency was struggling to cope and could not handle surges of applications.
