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An investigation by the former head of borders revealed a cruel game played by staff at hotels housing unaccompanied refugee children, where they were forced to guess who would be chosen for foster care next.
The Home Office initiated a comprehensive inquiry following a visit to hotels in Kent where unaccompanied asylum-seeking children were being housed. One leader admitted to turning the placement of children into a guessing game, where they had to guess who would be leaving for a foster care placement next.
The inspectors deemed the game to be “highly insensitive and likely discomforting for children.”
The shocking incident is just one revelation from a total of thirteen reports from the former inspector of borders and immigration that the Home Office published at all once on Thursday afternoon. Labour accused the government of “trying to hide shameful information” by dumping the reports.
Last week, David Neal, who used to hold the position of inspector, was abruptly dismissed through Microsoft Teams. The reason for his dismissal was said to be a violation of his contract, as he reportedly spoke to the press about perceived flaws in border security at City Airport.
Even though it was agreed upon that the reports would be published within eight weeks, the Home Office did not make any of the fifteen reports submitted in the past year public until Thursday.
Yvette Cooper, Labour’s spokesperson for home affairs, accused the government of attempting to conceal embarrassing information by releasing thirteen reports simultaneously. She criticized the haphazard nature of this approach, viewing it as a deliberate attempt to cover up important details. She deemed the government’s actions as highly irresponsible.
The Chair of the Home Affairs Committee, Dame Diana Johnson, expressed that the response was completely insufficient and brings up concerns about the actions of the Home Office during this period. She inquired, “Has the Home Office simply been neglecting them?”
However, Downing Street minimized the notion that this was a deliberate action.
David Neal, the ex-chief inspector, addressed Members of Parliament following his dismissal.
A spokesperson from No 10 stated, “Our goal was to release them as quickly as possible after completing the necessary and appropriate due diligence.”
According to Mr. Neal’s findings:
The security measures for borders at UK airports are considered to be inadequate and ineffective, as there are some posts that are not properly staffed.
Efforts to reduce the backlog of asylum cases have resulted in lower-quality decision-making and occasional errors in withdrawing claims.
• From July of 2021 to September of 2023, there were a total of 467 incidents where children seeking asylum went missing from hotels.
The Home Office implemented a covert practice of halting the transfer of Afghans from Pakistan to the UK in an effort to reduce the use of hotels.
The Home Office has a resistant culture and is unwilling to change.
Below is a recap of the key findings from the reports:
The prioritization of reducing the backlog has led to compromises in the accuracy of asylum decisions.
The former independent chief inspector of borders and immigration has concluded in a report that routine evaluations of asylum decision quality have been reduced in order to prioritize productivity.
Mr. Neal discovered that the rejection of low-quality asylum requests may lead to an increase in the number of appeals being made by asylum seekers, therefore causing an additional backlog.
According to the report, while the number of asylum claims being “withdrawn” by Home Office officials has increased significantly, only one of these decisions was subject to quality assurance.
According to a recent survey, the general attitude of asylum decision-makers is extremely negative, with 60 percent expressing a desire to leave their job as soon as possible or within the next year.
The team informed the inspector that their mental well-being had been impacted by pressure to meet targets. In light of this, an exclusive hub for well-being was launched on their internal communication platform.
To encourage asylum decision-makers to meet their goals, the department implemented various incentive plans. One of these plans offered a £100 bonus to staff members who surpassed their target by 10%.
The government has faced challenges in implementing their main policy in Rwanda. Out of 28,560 individuals who applied for asylum, 72% were initially rejected but later accepted into the asylum process by June 2023.
During the asylum casework inspection from June to October 2023, approximately 7,500 individuals were identified for deportation to Rwanda.
The Home Office officials informed Mr. Neal during his inspection that no actions would be taken towards their cases until the Supreme Court made a decision on the policy’s legality. Mr. Neal characterized their cases as being stuck in an indefinite state of uncertainty.
A decision was made by the minister to prioritize asylum requests from Albanians which resulted in delays in processing requests from other nationalities, according to staff members who reported to inspectors.
There is currently no reliable information available regarding the number of Afghans who were evacuated during Operation Pitting.
The Home Office lacks a comprehensive and precise database for individuals who arrived during Operation Pitting, the military operation to evacuate Afghans and UK citizens following the Taliban’s takeover in August of 2021, according to the chief inspector’s report.
The inspector observed that officials from the Home Office resorted to calling newly arrived individuals to confirm their immigration status. He mentioned that numerous British citizens were mistakenly granted temporary permission to stay due to inaccurate information.
Mr. Neal expressed disapproval towards the Home Office for not publicly disclosing their decision to suspend Afghan relocations to the UK in November 2022. This came after a political choice was made to discontinue the use of hotels in the UK.
The inspector who was working independently did not discover the decision until March 7, 2023, even though they had completed an inspection related to Afghan resettlement.
In April 2023, The Independent reported that a multitude of Afghans who were deemed qualified to enter the UK were left stranded in Pakistan due to the halt in relocations.
There are still unregistered children’s homes operating under the Home Office’s supervision, which have seen 467 cases of children disappearing from hotels.
Mr. Neal, the head of Borders, reported in February of this year that the Home Office has been operating unregistered homes for children for the past two years.
The report centered on lone refugee children who are currently being accommodated in Kent hotels and are under the protection of the Home Office.
He urged the government to place the children under the immediate care of Kent County Council. He also expressed worries about the insufficient screening of DBS clearance for hotel staff, as the Home Office only conducts occasional spot checks.
According to the Home Office, there have been 467 reported cases of children going missing from hotels between July 2021 and September 2023. Out of these incidents, 320 children were found but 147 are still missing, whereabouts unknown.
Home Office employees attributed the rise in missing children to an uptick in the amount of Albanian minors being admitted to hotels, who are at a significantly higher risk of going missing.
During the inspection, Mr Neal conducted visits to two hotels located in Kent in September 2023. It was noted in the report that the children residing in these hotels had limited access to assistance, as there was no written information available in their native language regarding the asylum procedure or their possible transfer destinations.
Although a court determined that it was illegal to house alone-seeking refugee children in hotels, there was no plan in place for how to rectify the issue.
The Home Office has a entrenched tendency towards defending oneself and is resistant to change.
The Home Office was informed by the borders and immigration watchdog in a report, prior to his termination, that it has a “defensive culture” and will only change if it desires to do so.
During his yearly review, spanning from April 2022 to March 2023, Mr. Neal stated that the Home Office has shown hesitation in implementing suggested enhancements. He also encountered strong resistance while composing inspection reports, with some responses exceeding the scope of fact-checking.
“He pointed out that some of this behavior may stem from a defensive cultural mindset, which is not beneficial. However, he acknowledged that numerous high-ranking officials are open to independent oversight.”
He voiced concerns that certain officials would be satisfied with merely improving and sugarcoating issues, resulting in a lack of substantial progress. He stated, “To be direct, if the Home Office is not motivated to change, it simply won’t.”
The most effective method for determining if a recommendation has been carried out is to assess it during a separate inspection.
The speaker, Mr Neal, stated that he has noticed a hesitancy among officials to interact with individuals on the field. He believes that this is partly due to the current pandemic situation, but also a result of a lack of confidence and a workplace culture that values policy-making in an office setting over hands-on experience.
The workload of border control at Stansted airport has reportedly risen by 400% since Brexit.
Managers of the border force at Stansted Airport informed inspectors that their casework has gone up by 400 percent after the UK’s exit from the EU, with majority of the cases stemming from e-gate referrals.
The sacked border watchdog Mr Neal said that following his re-inspection of electronic passport gates “basic stuff” was “not being done well”. He added that the protection of the UK’s border was “neither effective nor efficient”.
Mr. Neal stated that during their inspection, they observed border posts that were unattended while officers alerted their superiors for assistance. This behavior is not acceptable and must be promptly addressed.
The Independent is a major British daily newspaper, founded in 1986.
The Independent, established in 1986, is a significant newspaper in Britain that publishes daily.
