Asylum approvals 'likely incorrect' in vast majority of cases, damning review finds

A review of asylum decisions by the Home Office has found the majority were likely to be incorrect.Four-in-five of the asylum cases were made with insufficient evidence.Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICBI) John Tuckett reviewed a selection of 47 decisions made by Home Office staff.The cases, spanning from August to September of last year, suggested asylum decision-making was not satisfactory. TRENDING Stories Videos Your Say It read: Although this was only one limited exercise, if replicated across the system, these results suggested that the quality of asylum decision-making was not in a good state.Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said Labour was not willing to deport any asylum seekers.He told The Sun: Boat arrivals know their claim will almost certainly be approved regardless of its merits, and even if it is rejected, Labour do not have the backbone to deport anyone.The 44-page report, titled An inspection of asylum casework from June-December 2025, said there were different messages about the priority of quality coming from different parts of the system.A survey of Home Office decision-makers conducted by the ICBI found 83.7 per cent respondents believed senior managers prioritised quantity over quality.Individual Home Office decision-making units (DMUs) had also introduced targets, incentives and performance management to emphasise productivity over quality, the ICBI said.All the above suggest that quality has been the poor relation to productivity and quantity in terms of operational priorities since at least 2020, when the ICIBI made the same finding, the report found.Mr Tuckett's review also disclosed 882 decision-makers had left their roles from April 2024 to May 2025.LATEST MIGRANT CRISIS:'National disgrace!' Labour gave asylum seekers priority over veterans for 'Migrant Street' homesPeople-smugglers caught using TikTok to promote lorry crossings OUT of Britain to FranceOver 50 small boat migrants among 362 arrested during massive police bustThis followed a push from Asylum and Human Rights Operations to recruit over 800 decision-makers between the beginning of 2023 and September 2023.However, candidates were not assessed against the skills requirements applicable to the DM role, which resulted in people taking up their roles without the required expertise in evidence analysis, decision-making, or writing skills, the report said.The drastic drop in headcount marks a 42.2 per cent attrition rate within the DMUs, with data revealing that on average, the Home Office employees left the role in just 11 months.The ICBI had also found that artificial intelligence had been used inappropriately to make decisions.The Home Office rolled out its approved AI tool, called the Asylum Police Search.But some decision-makers used commercial tools in decision letters and interviews, namely Copilot and ChatGPT.The Home Office said: This is from a small sample of 47 cases.Four thousand cases show 94 per cent of decisions are considered 'correct' against agreed criteria. Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter