Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood says she will consider a big increase in payments to failed asylum seekers in a bid to persuade them to leave the UK voluntarily.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Mahmood was questioned on her new migrant policies and whether paying failed asylum seekers to leave was the right thing to do with taxpayers’ money.
In response, she argued that the costs of looking after failed asylum seekers in the country were orders of magnitude more than simply paying them to leave. It costs the taxpayer around £30,000 per individual per year, whereas the upper limit to leave is around £3,000.
“I’ve already asked my officials to pilot a small programme where we offer more than we currently do, just to see how that changes behaviour,” she said.
“I haven’t alighted on the full sums involved yet, but I’m willing to consider a big increase on what we currently pay, and that’s because… that’s often better value for money for the taxpayer.
“I know it sticks in the craw of many people and they don’t like it, but it’s value for money, it does work, and a voluntary return is often the best way to get people to return to their home country as quickly as possible.”
New immigration rules
Earlier this week, Mahmood officially announced new immigration rules that will impose much tougher restrictions on asylum seekers and rescind many of their benefits.
In the Restoring Order and Control policy paper published on Monday 17 November, Mahmood proposed a raft of new measures from the Labour government to tackle the issue of asylum seekers arriving in the United Kingdom.
Under the new rules, refugees will receive 30 months of leave to remain instead of the current five years, and this will only be renewed if they are still considered in need of protection.
If their refugee status is not renewed, they will be returned to their home countries.
Currently refugees in the UK have permanent refugee status and can apply for indefinite leave to remain after five years of being in the UK, proving the opportunity to gain British citizenship.
The new rules proposed by Mahmood will see refugees who arrive in the UK forced to wait 20 years to apply for indefinite leave to remain, and their refugee status will be under review throughout this period. This change is expected to apply only to new arrivals in the UK.
Alongside the reviewal of refugee status and longer wait times for settled status, Mahmood also announced that the UK will take a different interpretation of the ECHR’s right to family and private life, extending this only to immediate family connections when applied to asylum seekers.
Under the newly defined ‘core protection’ offered to refugees, there will be no automatic right to family reunion. Those who successfully move off core protection and enter a Work and Study visa route could become eligible to sponsor family members to come to the UK.
The new rules will also revoke the UK’s duty to provide housing and weekly allowances to asylum seekers who are facing destitution. Those refugees who have a right to work and can support themselves will not receive any support, and those who break the law can also have their support removed.
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