CIVIL servants working from home could miss fraudulent asylum claims, an ex-border chief has claimed.
Home Office staff, who can oversee asylum seeker claims and cases of foreign national offenders, are permitted to work three out of five days a week from home.
Ray CollinsMigrants arrive at Dover yesterday after being rescued by Border Force from small boats[/caption]
And the majority of their interviews for asylum bids are done remotely via video conference in lieu of in-person interviews at the department’s base.
But some immigration experts have raised concern over the trend away from face-to-face interviews.
Tony Smith, a former director general of Border Force, said it could prevent officers from spotting behavioural clues that could point to whether an applicant was telling the truth, reports the Telegraph.
Mr Smith told the outlet: “What worries me is that the process has become very codified.
“It is much harder to spot if someone is telling the truth if you are doing it online rather than sitting in the room with the asylum seeker and their lawyer.
“When I used to do them, you would sit opposite them and could look someone in the eye. There were behavioural patterns and stuff that might indicate whether it’s true or not.
“You get a sixth sense as to whether someone is being honest. I am not sure online interviews capture that. There is also a camaraderie among caseworkers that you get in an office, where they compare notes.”
The Home Office argued their flexibility regarding office working has helped manage the substantial number of claims, with lawyers, caseworkers, interpreters and support staff able to take part from varying locations.
A caseworker job description reads: “Working as part of a supportive team, you’ll conduct asylum interviews, following processes to make the most appropriate decisions on asylum cases.
“You will consider legislation and case law and produce letters on behalf of the Home Secretary to outline reasons for your decisions.”
Refugee groups have been at odds regarding the Home Office’s virtual approach with UN Agency for Refugees (UNHCR), arguing online interviews gave applicants more flexibility and protected them from travelling “unnecessar[ily]”.
However, Freedom from Torture, a human rights charity, warned that asylum seekers “often face challenges in articulating their experiences in remote settings, which could impact the quality of asylum decisions”.
Home Office job adverts say both enforcement officers as well as asylum decision-makers are allowed to spend as much as 60 per cent of the working week from home.
Interviewers are expected to analyse evidence and decide if hypothetical asylum applicants should have their bid granted or if they should be deported.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, a large portion of asylum interviews were carried out face-to-face at the department’s interview centres dotted throughout the UK.
Applicants were typically required to attend these offices in person, often accompanied by legal representatives and interpreters.
Strict security checks and audio-recording facilities were in place at the time.
And remote or video interviews were not a routine option until July 2021.
According to Home Office data, during the year to June, a record number of asylum applications were made, totalling 110,000 bids.
However, figures show the Government has been working through cases at a greater speed with application rates up 14 per cent from the previous year.
And while they were also higher than the peak of 103,000 in 2003, officials were processing claims even more quickly prior to the general election.
Statistics showed the backlog was almost half the peak of 134,000 claims at the end of June 2023, with a backlog of 71,000 relating to 91,000 waiting for a first decision.
The Home Office have been contacted for comment.
FLIGHT CHAOS
It comes after it was revealed how multiple foreign national offender (FNO) flights take off from Britain every week – with 5,000 such people deported last year.
But as part of the Facilitated Return Scheme, such deportees are given £2,000 to persuade them to volunteer to leave the country.
More than 10,000 eligible foreign inmates are currently serving time in the UK’s already crowded prisons, with the government prioritising their removal.
Since taking up her role, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has vowed to “do whatever it takes to secure our border”.
She has said she intends to “ramp-up” one-in, one-out deportations to France – with just three having been sent home under the scheme so far.
When the UK-France returns deal was announced in July, it was suggested that 50 migrants a week would be sent back.
But sources in the French government previously told The Sun they regarded the deal as “experimental” and reserved the right to “terminate it at any time.”
Some 31,000 boat migrants have been brought to Dover this year with many paying thousands of pounds to illegal gangs.
Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
