Asylum outsource plan ‘Tory agenda gone mad’
Private firms lined up for crucial interviews
PRIVATE firms could carry out crucial interviews to decide whether people are granted asylum in the UK.
The Home Office admitted it was looking into farming out the sensitive work and is to carry out a pilot scheme. SNP MP Chris Stephens said he had been told profit-hungry company Serco was favourite to pick up the contract. The outsourcing giant was behind the callous policy of changing the locks at Glasgow homes of refugees whose claims had been rejected last year. Stephens said: “People will recognise that previous private sector involvement in interviewing benefit claimants has been a disaster and the cause of a high number of successful appeals. It is outrageous that it now looks like the Home Office will be siding with interviews carried out by a private company that judges people’s basic human rights.”
Stephens plans to raise the matter in the Commons this week after being told by civil servants and trade unions that Serco is in prime position to run the pilot scheme.
About 45,000 people are waiting to have their asylum applications assessed.
Another private sector outsourcer, Atos, caused controversy with its disability benefit tests for claimants until it quit in 2015.
Glasgow South West MP Stephens added: “This is the Tory outsourcing agenda gone mad. Let’s not forget Serco was involved in trying to evict asylum seekers in Glasgow.”
Under the Home Office pilot plans, contractors would carry out interviews and gather evidence for asylum claims.
Mike Dailly, human rights solicitor at the Govan Law Centre in Glasgow, said: “It raises huge concerns in terms of fairness and justice.
“A private company is incentivised to make profits and that is wholly unsuited to public administrative law.”
The Home Office claimed contractors could speed up decision-making after delays caused by Covid-19.
It said: “We are exploring whether they can deliver the support required as a short term measure. At this stage we are only exploring the potential feasibility.”