The UK’s statistical oversight body is probing the government’s assertion that it resolved the backlog of asylum claims in 2023. Rishi Sunak’s administration claimed to have cleared all applications made by asylum seekers before June 28, 2022. However, as of Tuesday, 4,537 claims from the backlog remained undecided, though the government insists they’ve been reviewed and considers them “cleared.”
The Office for Statistics Regulation initiated an investigation into this announcement. The government had to address 92,000 claims from before June 2022 to fulfill Sunak’s promise. Home Office data revealed 112,138 initial asylum decisions made between January 1 and December 28, with 86,800 relating to legacy cases and 25,338 to non-legacy cases.
Of these decisions, 51,469 resulted in asylum applications being granted, while 25,550 were refused, indicating a 67% acceptance rate. However, there were also 35,119 “non-substantive” decisions, which involve scenarios like withdrawn claims, paused applications, void declarations, or incomplete submissions.
This count of 35,119 non-substantive decisions is over two and a half times the 13,093 recorded in 2022. The remaining 4,537 cases deemed more complex involve situations such as age verification for asylum seekers presenting as children, severe medical issues, or suspected past convictions.
The investigation by the Office for Statistics Regulation stemmed from a complaint, and initial inquiries are expected to take several weeks. Although the OSR lacks the authority to compel data provision from the Home Office, it may withdraw its endorsement from their releases.
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