Newsletter 29

PAFRAS NEWSLETTER
www.pafras.org.uk • info@pafras.org.uk • 0113 262 2163
New report slams
UKBA’s handling of
legacy cases.
Four years ago this December a report entitled ‘Asylum Matters’ was published by the think tank The Centre for Social Justice. The report drew farreaching conclusions and made some radical recommendations for the root
and branch reform of the asylum system.
‘Asylum Matters’ was scathing about the present system and the policy of
forcing refused asylum seekers into destitution as a means of making them
leave the UK. It recommended that the system of adversarial legal hearings
for asylum appeals be replaced with an inquisitorial, magistrate-led approach;
that legal advice to claimants be provided earlier on; and that more funding
be made available for expert and medical reports to assist decision-makers. It
also recommended that the role of determining asylum cases should be taken
away from the UKBA entirely and given to an independent decision-making
body.
Issue 29
Winter 2012-13
Chaos in the UKBA
Fundraiser News
Reverand Canon Alan
Tayor, Our Thanks
New Barriers to
Volunteering for
Refugees and Asylum
Seekers
PAFRAS Runners
Harvest 2012
The brainchild of former Tory leader and current Secretary of State for Work
and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith; the Centre for Social Justice was established during his time in the wilderness following the Tories’ loss of the 2005
general election. As such its outputs perhaps reflect the depth of soul-searching engendered following two consecutive landslide defeats at the hands of
New Labour. None of Asylum Matters’ recommendations have been implemented since the Tories’ return to power in May 2010.
Nonetheless, a report into the Border Agency’s handling of so-called ‘legacy’
cases, published recently by John Vine the Independent Chief Inspector of the
UKBA, once again highlights exactly why reform is so desperately needed.
One year ago, in issue 24 of our newsletter, we covered the failure of the
Border Agency to clear its backlog of unconcluded ‘legacy’ cases by the July
2011 deadline it had been set.
We reported at the time that acting CEO of the UKBA, Jonathon Sedgwick
had informed the Home Affairs Select Committee that all 18,000 cases ‘awaitContinued on page 2
Positive Action For Refugees & Asylum Seekers
Company No. 5751987 • Registered Charity No. 1120950
Unit 14, Chapeltown Enterprise Centre, 231-235 Chapeltown Road, Leeds, LS7 3DX
ing conclusion’ had been decided, and the applicants
informed of the decisions. He said that these were
”cases where [only] removal has still to be completed.”
At the time PAFRAS alone knew of several individuals who had not been notified of decisions within the
legacy process and of some who had out-standing
further representations for fresh claims of asylum and
therefore could not be ‘awaiting removal’.
is highly critical of the way in which this policy change
was implemented, indicating that delays due to poor
process and management at the UKBA meant that
individuals who would have been granted ILR subsequently received grants of DLR. These findings offer
great comfort to legal representatives who are currently
in the process of mounting a legal challenge to the
policy change.
By September 2011, 98,000 legacy asylum cases were
placed into a ‘controlled archive’ by the UKBA because
it had failed to track down the applicants. At the time
observations made by PAFRAS indicated that a fairly
sizeable proportion of these individuals were continuing
to report to the UKBA on a regular basis and subsequently the Chief Inspector of the UKBA found that 7%
of the files sampled for his report from the Controlled
Archive were incorrectly allocated to it (Vine 2012: 21).
On the whole VIne’s report indicates once again that
the UKBA is not fit to make important decisions about
people’s lives and that thorough reform of the whole
asylum system is needed now as much as it ever was.
In April 2011 a new ‘Case Assurance and Audit Unit’
(CAAU) had been established to deal with remaining
legacy cases. The CAAU replaced the Case Resolution Directorate (CRD) originally tasked with concluding
legacy cases. This change was marked by an 88%
cut in staffing and PAFRAS predicted that this would
create huge delays for the many, many individuals still
awaiting a decision.
In his present report John Vine indicates that this has
been exactly the case. The report states that:
“The volume of the remaining work to resolve
legacy cases was not anticipated by the new unit.
As a result, CAAU was quickly overwhelmed by
the casework…. Such was the inefficiency of this
operation that at one point over 150 boxes of
post, including correspondence from applicants,
MPs and their legal representatives, lay unopened
in a room in Liverpool.” (Vine 2012: 2)
In total there were some 28,400 pieces of unopened
post, 14,800 of which were sent by recorded delivery (Vine 2012: 45), indicating that they are very likely
to contain either further submissions or responses
to UKBA requests for information. It should be noted
therefore that this correspondence included large
amounts of correspondence vital to making a correct
decision on the cases it related to.
In July 2011 an change in policy at the Home Office
meant that the CAAU began issuing grants of 3 years
discretionary leave to remain (DLR) where previously
indefinite leave (ILR) had granted (Vine 2012: 6). A
number of exceptions to this policy were devised but
inspectors found that “in our interviews with caseworkers none showed an awareness of any of the exceptions, they only spoke of ILR being replaced…” (Vine
2012: 62), and indeed in files inspected grants of ILR
(9% of files examined) were seemingly given at random
and bore little relation to the stated exceptions (Op.
cit: 62). Not surprisingly, the Chief Inspector’s report
Sources
CSJ, Asylum Matters: Restoring Trust in the UK Asylum
System (2008) available at www.centreforsocialjustice.
org.uk
UKBA, Freedom of Information Response 18723 (June
2011) available at www.pafras.org.uk
Vine, J (Independent Chief Inspector of the UKBA) ‘An
inspection of the UK Border Agency’s handling of legacy asylum and migration cases, March – August 2012’
(2012) available at icinspector.independent.gov.uk
Second PAFRAS
Fundraiser Announced
TUFO Presents: Eclectica II the Fundriasier Before Christmas
Thursday 13 December 18:00 onwards.
Wharf Chambers, 23-25 Wharf Street, LS2 7EQ
Following on from the enormous success of June’s fundraiser for PAFRAS, our friends in the West Yorkshire
Branch of the PCS and at Leeds Trades Council are
organising a second fundraiser on December 13th.
The event, again to be held at the Wharf Chambers,
will feature local acts including Mik Artistic’s Ego Trip,
Downdime and Quasimodo who are donaitng their
time and talent to raise money for us.
Join them as well as PAFRAS staff, volunteers and service users from 18:00 on Thursday 13 December.
A Fond Farewell
Reverand Canon
Alan Taylor
also became a Trustee of the organisation.
On behalf of PAFRAS, thank you so much for everything you have done and from the Board of Trustees
and Staff of PAFRAS we wish you a long and fulfilled
retirement.
On a personal note I will miss your boundless energy,
friendship and wicked sense of humour. Enjoy your
retirement, and all Best Wishes in your “change of
direction in your life” you will be sorley missed
Christine Kay Majid
Manager
New
Barriers to
Refugee and
Asylum
Seekers
Volunteering
After serving 28 years in the Ministry of the Church
of England Alan Taylor retired on the 25th November
2012.
Alan was born in Clayton, Wakefield on the 26th July
1943, his family lived in the south Leeds suburb of
Hunslet, where he spent his early years and attended
Hunslet Carr School till the age of 15.
In 1969 he studied at Chichester Theological college
and was admitted as a deacon in the Church of England serving at Walton Liverpool, he was priested the
following year and moved to Toxeth where he undertook the duties of Race Relations Advisor to Bishop
David Sheperd, in 1984 he moved back to his home
town of Leeds as Vicar of St Aidans Leeds.
During his quarter century he has played a major and
vital role in the church and the wider community. He
was elected as to Leeds City Council in 1999 as a
Liberal Democrat for the Gipton and Harehills Ward , he
has twice undertaken high office : as deputy Lord Mayor and on his last year on the council as Lord Mayor.
Alan had an enormous impact as a community activist
, the response to practical need within an International
context and the work he did with PAFRAS has been
a important contribution to the life of this city, holding
together the church and many different communities
together, he was a champion of justice, and peace and
welcomed all strangers.
Not only did Alan give PAFRAS a home to operate their
weekly drop ins for refugees and asylum seekers he
Recent changes to Criminal Records Bureau (CRB)
checks mean that refugees and asylum seeker are in
danger of being further excluded from participation in
society. The changes are likely to be particularly problematic for those who have been refused asylum.
New CRB guidelines issued in May this year state that
all non-EEA nationals must produce one of the following documents to enable their assessment:
•
A valid (current) passport,
•
A biometric residence permit
•
A UK driving licence
•
A UK birth certificate
Previously non-EEA citizens were able to use their Application Registration Card (ARC), any immigration status document issued by the Home Office or a Convention Travel Document (available to recognised refugees
in lieu of a passport) to establish their identity.
Continued on page 4
New Barriers to volunteering...
(continued from page 2)
Harvest 2012
The new rules are doubly perverse because individuals
who cannot produce one of these (certainly the case
of 99% of refused asylum seekers and the majority of
refugees would also struggle) are able to attend a police station for fingerprinting. All asylum applicants have
their fingerprints taken by the Home Office when they
make their applications.
A huge, heart felt thanks to all those who have so incredibly generously supported us this harvest. We have
been overwhelmed by the magnitude of your response
this year and the food room is stacked to the rafters.
While no one wishes to put vulnerable children, young
people or indeed adults at risk, however these changes
appear to be motivated more by the administrative
convenience of the firms contracted to provide CRB
checking services than additional security.
Refugees and asylum seekers (including refused
asylum seekers) contribute a huge amount to society through volunteering, often working in schools or
other education settings and providing services such
as community translation for vulnerable people. At the
same time they are seeking to secure work-related
experience in the UK that will enable them to re-enter
the work force, sometimes after prolonged periods of
enforced inactivity. It seems quite astonishing that additional unnecessary bureaucratic barriers should be
placed in their paths.
PAFRAS Runners
We’d also like to thank Muslim Communities UK
(MCUK) who brought one hundred meals to the PAFRAS Drop-in on November 15th. MCUK are a Manchester-based community group supporting vulnerable
people of all faiths and none.
Donations
As always your donations, particularly of food, toiletries
and good winter clothes for men, women and children
are very welcome.
Ideally donations should be brought along to one of our
drop-ins at St Aidan’s (map below). If you are unable to
do this please contact our office to make alternative arrangements (0113 262 2163 or info@pafras.org.uk).
Please note that we only have two full-time members of
staff and the office is not always manned.
The PAFRAS drop-in is held at St Aidan’s Community
Hall, just behind St Aidan’s Church on Roundhay Road,
Harehills, Leeds. The postcode is LS8 5QD
Access is on Elford Place West. Numbers 12 and 13
buses stop opposite the church.
On Tuesdays we are open between 10:00 and 12:30,
on Thursdays between 10:00 and 2:00.
d
On a decideldly chilly Sunday morning in November
the PAFRAS runners congregated outside Cafe Nero
on the Headrow a few minutes before warm-up time
for the 2012 Abbey Dash. All four runners made it
down there although sadly Emma wasn’t fit to run
having torn some ligaments during the last week of
training. Liz, Mary and Laurie all completed the race
with nothing more than a few personal best times
broken.
Published by PAFRAS © December 2012
dh
ay
Ro
a
Ro
un
St Aidan’s
Community Hall
Elford
We’d all like to acknowledge everyone who so generously sponsored us for the race, you’ve given much
more than the target figure of £1,000 and, once we
include gift aid we are looking at a total of more than
£1,500 raised. A fabulous result for all. Our thanks.
— Emma, Liz, Mary & Laurie
St Aidan’s Church
Place
West
Back
Elford
Place
Elford
Bays
wate
r Cre
scen
t
Grove