The UK National Audit Office (NAO) has recently published a report analysing the management of asylum applications by the UK Border Agency, especially in light of the New Asylum Model (NAM) introduced in March 2007 in order to speed up and improve decision-making.
The report has concluded that the new process is not working to its optimum efficiency and effectiveness.The report highlights the increase in the backlog of undecided cases that had doubled to 8,700 during the second quarter of 2008, compared with the same period in 2007. It will therefore be challenging for the UK Border Agency to conclude 60 per cent of cases within six months. The report also mentions the issues regarding a second backlog of unresolved asylum application still from the system before the New Asylum Model was put in place. The number has been brought down from approximately 450,000 to 245,000 but the number still remains high. Furthermore, the interview process, used to asses an asylum seeker's eligibility for asylum, has also been criticised. The report found that ‘over a quarter of asylum applicants are not receiving a full screening interview when they make their claims, running the risk that key information about an asylum applicant's claim is missed.' The NAO also in particularly puts emphasises on the costs involved due to this backlog, lack of implementation of decisions and the failure by the Home Office to deliver an increase in removals of failed asylum seekers.
