Home Office in row with Burnham and Labour councils over homeless asylum seekers ...Middle East

Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and Labour-run councils have criticised the Home Office over the asylum decision process which they say has led to a spike in homelessness.

The Government has accelerated the system by which asylum is granted in a bid to clear a backlog which had reached more than 175,000 people.

But councils say that the sped up process has led to a spike in asylum seekers being evicted from Government accommodation who will end sleeping rough on the streets.

There are still at least 133,409 asylum seekers in temporary accommodation, including hotels, who are awaiting an initial decision on their bid to stay in the UK, according to Home Office figures.

Once a decision on their application is made, those people move from being the responsibility of the Government to the local authority – either ending up on waiting lists for council homes or without recourse to public funds.

As a result council leaders warned the move has led to soaring numbers of asylum seekers sleeping rough and they say they have been told to expect another increase in decisions imminently, including a spike in people from Afghanistan because the UK has recently changed its guidance on the war-torn country.

Officials are more likely to reject their claim because the Home Office now believes there is less risk from the Taliban.

It is a particular issue for the North West of England, where more than 21,000 asylum seekers have been housed by the Government in Manchester, Liverpool and Blackpool.

At least 616 households leaving Home Office accommodation in Manchester were owed a homeless duty in the year ending June 2024, the highest in the country.

Burnham, the Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, said: “The Home Office, really to suit its own purposes, has just thrown the problem at local authorities and it’s totally unfair to do that, and let people who are already in a pretty desperate situation in an even worse position.

“That behaviour isn’t acceptable.

“I’m pleased to see the new Home Secretary is making changes, but we do need to see those changes sustained.

“And we do need to see more councils playing their part in the asylum dispersal process.”

Until this week, the Home Office was giving those who have received an asylum decision just 28 days to find new accommodation before they are then evicted.

But on 9 December the deadline was extended to 56 days - but local leaders remain concerned that thousands of asylum seekers will require support to prevent them becoming homeless.

They believe the numbers are likely to increase because the next cohort of applications being dealt with by the Home Office is likely to result in more refusals.

People who have had their asylum application refused are not automatically entitled to temporary accommodation and have much more restricted access to public funds.

Paul Dennett, the Labour mayor of Salford and homelessness lead for Greater Manchester, said the current level of rough sleeping in the region is "bleak" despite investment in schemes such as "A Bed Every Night", which provides temporary accommodation to anyone who needs it.

"The next batch that the Home Office are processing in terms of the people they've got to get through...it's more likely those are going to have no recourse to public funds, and not have leave to remain," he said.

"That is the issue that I'm really concerned about. Those people won't be able to access services, because legally they can't.

"They will be evicted from their accommodation, and then they will find themselves sleeping rough on our streets, which is awful."

Woodren Brade, policy officer at the charity Refugee Council, said the charity has seen a rise in asylum decisions being made - resulting in a higher number of refusals.

“You cannot increase decisions without ensuring there is systemic support afterwards," Brade said.

“We and others in the sector made it clear from the outset with the new government that if you don't process decisions right, you will create a homelessness crisis.

"We welcome the introduction of the 56 day move on period, which is a good step in the right direction. But it is only a pilot, which gives it this temporary nature which we hope will become permanent."

Labour has struck a hardline approach towards immigration since taking power, with Home Secretary Yvette Cooper pledging a new Border Security Command to tackle people-smuggling gangs and an increase in arrests made by the Immigration Enforcement team.

But the charity said this alone will not deal with the small boats crisis.

“One of the things we would really call for - especially on this homelessness issue - there has to be more joined up working with local government," Brade said.

“The lack of national strategy on refugee integration is an issue."

Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Angela Eagle, said: “This government restarted the processing of thousands of asylum claims which were stuck in the inherited backlog, enabling people to move on with their lives.

“This government is working with the GMCA and other local authorities throughout the process.

“Refused asylum seekers have 14 days to appeal the decision. If they do not lodge an appeal, they will continue to receive Home Office asylum support, including provision of accommodation, for 21 calendar days after the date they received the decision.

The regions with the highest number of asylum seekers waiting to be processed

“If they choose not to appeal, we promote our Voluntary Returns Service so they can return to their home country.”

It comes as new figures released by the charity Shelter show the number of people homeless in England on any given night has increased by 14 per cent to 354,016.

Shelter’s based its estimate on an analysis of people living in council-arranged temporary accommodation, those who have arranged their own temporary accommodation, rough sleepers, single people in hostels but not counted in Government statistics, and figures from Freedom of Information requests it made to councils.

The charity said its figure - which equates to one in 160 of the population in England - is likely to be an underestimate as some types of homelessness such as sofa-surfing go unrecorded.

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