November 2006
Failure to produce a passport on arrival in the UK
Unknown numbers of asylum seeking children and 'age disputed' asylum seekers have been prosecuted under section 2 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimant's etc) Act 2004 for failing to produce a passport on arrival in the UK. The courts have decided that asylum seekers prosecuted under section 2 have mostly been wrongly convicted. For more information see the press release from the Immigration Law Practitioners Association here.
UASC Reform Programme
Although we are still awaiting the long delayed public consultation on the UASC Reform Programme an article in the October issue of ADSS Inform (the bi-annual journal of the Association of Director's of Social Services) sets out its position in relation to the expected proposals. To read the article click here. To remind subscribers of the latest publicly available information from the Home Office on the UASC reform programme click here. It is now anticipated that the public consultation will be launched in late November or early December.
Home Office Statistics
The Home Office have produced some very detailed statistics on UASC applications for the second quarter of 2006. The statistics also include some data on trends in applications from 2002. To view the full document click here.
October 2006
Exclusion of unaccompanied minors from the family amnesty - update
In January 2006 the Children's Legal Centre reported that unaccompanied minors/former unaccompanied minors who claimed asylum in the UK before 2nd October 2000 may have a claim that they qualify for indefinite leave to remain under the 'family amnesty'.
Although the case referred to in the original briefing has been settled, another case, R (Rudi) v SSHD (CO/2900/2005) is listed for substantive hearing in the administrative court on 5th October 2006. Rudi challenges the exclusion from the family amnesty of unaccompanied children who claimed asylum before 2nd October 2000.
For further information on this current challenge and the Home Office's comments to the administrative court click here. To review the information posted on the site in January 2006 click here.
September 2006
Home Office asylum statistics
The Home Office has released asylum statistics for 2005 including statistics on applications for unaccompanied minors and age disputed cases. To find out more click here,
Legal Aid: A sustainable future
The Legal Services Commission have launched a consultation paper "Legal Aid: A sustainable future" which proposes significant changes to the current arrangements for funding immigration and asylum work. It is proposed to fund unaccompanied asylum seeking children's cases in a different way to adult asylum cases. To find more about the proposals for UASC , click here. If you want to look at the whole document click here
June 2006
JSA and Income Support
Accessing JSA and Income Support at 18 for those with Discretionary Leave. Children's Legal Centre has been receiving numerous reports from across the UK that the processing of claims for JSA and Income Support for those who have applied to the Home Office 'in time' for an extension of their Discretionary Leave are being delayed on the ground that no Home Office Acknowledgement letter has been received by the benefits office dealing with the claim. (May 2006) Click here to read more.
Detention of asylum seeking children
Detention of asylum seeking children: the Refugee Council, Save the Children, BID as well as the Welsh and Scottish Refugee Councils have launched a campaign to stop the detention of children.
May 2006
Trends in applications from Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children - Analysis of the 1st quarter statistics for 2006 from the Home Office.
The Home Office have released provisional asylum statistics for the first quarter of 2006. Overall, and in line with the recent trend, asylum applications were down (by 8%) from Quarter 1 in 2005 - although up slightly from Quarter 4 of 2005.
Applications from Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (excluding cases where the age of the applicant is in dispute) bucked this trend and were up from 645 in the first Quarter of 2005 to 760 in the first Quarter of 2006.
However, the rise in the overall numbers of applications from UASC disguises the fact that this is accounted for by relatively few countries. From the African continent, applications from Eritrean UASC rose from 25 in the first Quarter of 2005 to 70 in the first quarter of 2006 while Somali applications rose from 55 to 80. From the Middle East, applications from Iran dropped slightly from 110 to 90 and from Iraq substantially from 65 to 5. The largest rises were seen in applications from Asia and in particular from UASC from Afghanistan where applications rose from 70 in the first Quarter of 2005 to 185 in the first quarter of 2006. Small rises were also seen from Bangladesh, China and Sri Lanka but there was a substantial reduction in applications from UASC from Vietnam from 45 in the first quarter of 2005 to 1 or 2 in first quarter of 2006.
April 2006
API on Children
The Home Office has issued an Asylum Policy Instruction (API) on Children. The API covers both accompanied and unaccompanied children and provides guidance to IND caseworkers on how to deal with asylum claims from these children. The API can be downloaded here on the IND website.
February 2006
UASC reform programme
NASS recently launched the 'Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children Reform Programme 2005/6' (February 2006)
Family amnesty
Family Amnesty Changes - Inter Agency Partnership policy briefing (February 2006) click here to read the briefing
January 2006
Age assessment protocol
Age assessment protocol: a Joint Working Protocol between Immigration and Nationality Directorate of the Home Office (IND) and the Association of Directors of Social Services (ADSS) has been adopted (January 2006)
Family amnesty
Unaccompanied Minors/former unaccompanied minors who claimed asylum in the UK before 2nd October 2000 may have a claim that they qualify for indefinite leave to remain under the 'family amnesty' (January 2006) click here for more information
Leaving Care Cost Grant
DfES has issued guidance on the arrangements for the payment of the UASC Leaving Care Costs Grant in respect of the year to 31 March 2006: LAC (2006)1: Unaccompanied asylum seeking children - leaving care costs: 2005/2006: guidance. (January 2006) click here
