Migrants risk being granted asylum despite not being entitled to protection because of failings in Home Office decision-making, a damning United Nations audit has warned.
Investigators found just 52 per cent of decisions assessed met the department’s own quality standards in 2023/24 – the worst performance recorded.
The figure represented a dramatic fall from 72 per cent the previous year, with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warning that flawed decisions could go both ways.
“This research indicates that there is a real risk that applicants are being refused despite being in need of international protection, and that applicants are being granted asylum even though they are not entitled to it,” the audit stated.
Researchers identified a “failure to probe material facts”, an over-reliance on closed questions and instances of interpreters condensing applicants’ answers rather than translating them in full.
The UNHCR examined 30 asylum interviews and 30 separate case files, as well as directly observing a further 30 interviews.
In 19 of the 60 interviews examined or observed, the applicant’s full grounds for seeking protection remained unclear after the substantive interview had concluded.
The report also raised concerns that pressure to speed up asylum decision-making had resulted in cases progressing before they were sufficiently prepared.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp seized on the findings to launch a blistering attack on the Government’s handling of the asylum system.
He said: “The United Nations, hardly a hostile witness, has told the Home Office that it is granting asylum to people who are not entitled to it.”
Mr Philp pointed to 58,000 people receiving asylum or leave to remain in the past year, representing a 10 per cent increase on the previous 12 months.
“The Home Office has handed over the asylum system completely,” he declared.
One case highlighted by the audit involved an Afghan applicant questioned about the Taliban’s alleged interest in their father.
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Asked why the Taliban was interested in him, the applicant replied: “I don’t know, maybe because of his life, his talent.”
When asked what talent his father possessed, the applicant responded: “He was a shopkeeper.”
The issue was not explored further during the interview.
Concerns about asylum decision-making have also been reflected in the appeals system, with 45 per cent of asylum appeals determined by the First-tier Tribunal in the year to March 2025 resulting in the Home Office’s initial refusal being overturned.
However, the UNHCR acknowledged “notable progress” in strengthening interview training for newly recruited decision makers.
The findings come after a Home Office whistleblower claimed just one per cent of asylum seekers are genuine as he alleged “massive fraud” was taking place within Britain’s asylum system.
The official, known only as “J” to protect his identity, has spent years working as a Home Office decision-maker and has assessed thousands of asylum applications.
Speaking to The Times, he said: “At best 1 per cent of asylum seekers are genuine. There’s almost no aspect of the asylum system that isn’t either a massive fraud or just really dysfunctional. Nothing works as it should.”
A spokesman for the Home Office said: “We thank the UNHCR for their report, and we are pleased to see they agree we have made progress with strengthening interview training for new decision makers.
“The Home Secretary is taking tough action to fix our broken immigration system by removing incentives that draw people here illegally and scaling up removals of those with no right to be in the UK.”
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