Lawyer shortage threatens Rwanda flights

Need for three minders each will also limit number of asylum seekers put on each plane for deportation

THE Home Office may not be able to deport as many migrants to Rwanda as it wants because of shortages of lawyers, leaked documents have revealed.

Officials have warned ministers that the amount of taxpayer-funded legal advice that the Government is obliged to provide the migrants could be a major “constraining” factor on the number of deportations. They said the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) could have to recruit as many as an extra 350 duty solicitors funded by legal aid to provide migrants with their statutory advice ahead of deportation. Officials calculated some 11,550 solicitor hours could be needed in the course of a year.

Each migrant being deported to Rwanda will also require three minders, reducing the number of asylum seekers on any one flight to fewer than 50, according to the documents which were drawn up last year and spelled out the logistics of the Rwanda scheme.

The disclosures come as Rishi Sunak’s Safety of Rwanda Bill returns to the Commons on Monday after suffering a series of defeats in the Lords. After a further round of parliamentary pingpong between MPS and peers, it could pass by the end of next week, paving the way for the first flights.

The Prime Minister has declared he aims to get the first flights off to Rwanda this spring as part of his pledge to stop the boats. Letters informing migrants that they have been chosen for deportation to Rwanda are expected to be sent out within days of the bill becoming law.

The documents, entitled “End-to-end detained approach”, warned of two factors that would “constrain” the number of migrants deported to Rwanda.

First was the shortage of spaces in immigration detention centres, estimated last autumn at 1,000, which would allow about 700 migrants a month to be held and processed before deportation to Rwanda.

Officials calculated this would enable 142 migrants to be deported on three flights a week with each asylum seeker minded by three escorts, according to the documents. This would suggest 150 minders to 50 migrants per plane.

Some 500 escorts were being trained to take migrants from their detention centres to the plane and then transporting them to their new accommodation once in Rwanda, said officials.

They warned, however, that the shortage of lawyers could have a bigger impact on numbers of deportations. “Legal capacity is a further constraining factor (likely greater than detention space),” said the document. Officials estimated it would take an average of 44 days for each migrant to be processed for deportation. Migrants will have their asylum claims confirmed as inadmissible but will have a right to seek permission to appeal or a right to appeal under the legislation.

They will be represented by duty immigration lawyers, funded through legal aid. But officials warned there were significant shortfalls in the number of solicitors needed to provide “meaningful” advice to the migrants.

Government sources said they were confident the system was “resilient” to meet the demand.

The Home Office refused to comment on leaked documents which sources claimed were out of date.