![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/robert-jenrick-declares-war-on-cumbersome-red-tape-to-slash-asylum-backlog/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/TELEMMGLPICT000315074656_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bqxs_OWUXZTIGBHUCd-_djq_A4rhPfMswmNkzmxLr1Xww.jpeg&description=Last month, Home Office officials admitted to MPs that four per cent of migrants who arrived in small boats in 2021 had received a decision. Insiders said one of the main problems was a decision three years ago to scrap the six-month target. 'The reason why it has gone wrong is because they haven't focused on targets. The civil servants have not been held accountable for throughput,' said one source. They said it could also take months to set up an interview because of all the bureaucratic checks they had to do in advance. This means a case worker has to send the application to a plethora of other sections for checks including safeguarding, security, accommodation and mental health. "When they get a new application, they send it off somewhere else and then put it in their pending tray,' said one insider. 'We have created a very cumbersome process with lots of obstacles in the way before you get to the interview.' Setting up the interview involves not only fixing up a meeting with the claimant and his or her lawyers, but also dealing with unmanageable computer systems and massive spreadsheets. It can take each case worker up to 40 minutes just to carry out the simple task of booking an asylum seeker in for an interview. The mechanisms for dealing with claims of trafficking and modern day slavery create further delays, while simple human errors can grind a case file to a halt.){kind=link}
Immigration minister demands increase in productivity and new targets, as he makes cutting 120,000 case logjam a priority
Robert Jenrick is planning a war on red tape to speed up asylum applications, as it emerged that it can take officials up to 40 minutes to book an applicant in for an interview.
The new immigration minister is understood to have made slashing the 120,000 case backlog a major priority, in order to reduce the £5.6 million a day cost of putting up 27,000 claimants in hotels – on top of a further 60,000 in other Home Office-funded accommodation.
He wants a significant increase in productivity – tripling the number of applications each case worker completes in a week – and is expected to reintroduce targets to process asylum claims within six months, compared with the current average of 480 days.
Eight years ago, nine in 10 asylum applications were completed within six months – but this fell to just six per cent by last year.