“If you get it wrong, you’re sending people back to their deaths.” Robin Callender Smith, a retired asylum appeals judge, knows the stakes of every case. Many who appeared before him faced a “real prospect of danger” if returned to regimes that might imprison, torture or execute them. Now, as the government pushes ahead with plans to force refugees to repay around £10,000 for their support, his warning carries an added weight.
Under the Immigration and Asylum Bill, the Home Office will gain powers to recover costs from all adults granted asylum who later earn enough. They must pay a flat-rate fee – expected to be £10,000 – before they can settle permanently. Those whose claims are rejected and leave the UK must repay the costs before they are allowed to return.
“Refugees face £10,000 repayment bill under new asylum bill; retired judge warns mistakes can mean death.”
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood described the change as demonstrating that “asylum support is a right, but it is also a responsibility”. She added: “Once people can contribute and repay the generosity of the British people, we expect them to do so.” The Home Office has not yet set the earnings threshold for repayments or the monthly instalment amount, but Mahmood can adjust both to ensure the charge is “fair to the taxpayer” and does not “force any migrant into destitution”.
Last year, the government spent around £4bn of taxpayers’ money on supporting asylum seekers. The average cost of housing one asylum seeker in private-rented accommodation is £23.25 a night, or £144 in a hotel. Subsistence payments range from £9.95 to £49.18 per person per week.
Dr Madeleine Sumption, director of the University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory, said the measures push the immigration system “in a more restrictive direction”. “The government goal appears to be to tighten up that system as much as they can while still remaining compliant with international refugee law and human rights law,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
The Refugee Council condemned the plans as “unfair, impractical” and amounting to an “extra tax on refugees”. Its director of external affairs, Imran Hussain, pointed to a contradiction: “The reason why many need asylum support is because the Home Office itself bans asylum seekers from working while their claims are being assessed. … Asylum support is only given to people who are at risk of being destitute, so this new financial burden would only harm those who arrive on our shores with nothing.”
For Callender Smith, the retired judge, the focus remains on the human cost of getting decisions wrong – a risk that only grows as the system comes under greater strain.