6Conclusion
90.The Home Office deals with millions of immigration transactions overseas, in country and at the border. At any one time the number of cases across the system will be significant. We are concerned that the Immigration Directorates do not have the resources to cope with its workload. The number of visa applications on which work has not started continues to grow and now stands at over 16,000 cases. The number of asylum applications for which a decision is pending is the highest since records began in 2010 (34,201). Progress in concluding historical cases has slowed and at the current rate may take decades to clear. Against this backdrop looms the potential impact of the UK leaving the European Union. Changes to the UK’s relationship with the EU will have a profound effect on the work of the Immigration Directorates. It is crucial that they be given the additional resources they will almost certainly need to meet this challenge. We summarise the current caseload and backlog of cases covered in this Report in the tables below.
Table 20: Current caseload (number of cases)
|
Q1 2015 |
Q2 2015 |
Q3 2015 |
Q4 2015 |
Q1 2016 |
Difference on previous quarter |
% change |
|
|
Temporary and permanent visa applications in progress |
109,718 |
124,582 |
156,286 |
140,950 |
123,447 |
-17,503 |
-12% |
|
Temporary and permanent visa applications still to be loaded onto CID |
10,969 |
6,855 |
7,219 |
13,341 |
16,672 |
3,331 |
+25% |
|
Asylum cases pending a decision* |
29,971 |
29,586 |
31,881 |
33,990 |
34,201 |
211 |
+1% |
|
Live legacy asylum cases |
20,181 |
20,017 |
19,833 |
19,710 |
19,506 |
-204 |
-1% |
|
Live legacy immigration cases |
4,587 |
4,542 |
4,499 |
4,492 |
4,456 |
-36 |
-1% |
|
FNOs living in the community |
5,053 |
5,021 |
5,267 |
5,789 |
5,985 |
196 |
+3% |
|
Migration refusal pool |
160,588 |
157,142 |
167,975 |
161,199 |
151,451 |
-9,748 |
-6% |
|
Migration refusal pool |
82,266 |
81,954 |
63,634 |
55,547 |
54,429 |
-1,118 |
-2% |
|
Total |
423,333 |
429,699 |
456,594 |
435,018 |
410,147 |
-24,871 |
-6% |
Source: Home Office, Migration Statistics, May 2016
* Asylum casework figures are a snapshot of cases pending a decision. The number of cases in progress post-decision such as those where an appeal is outstanding or an individual is subject to removal are recorded annually and therefore not included in the quarterly figures in the table above.
Table 21: Backlog of cases
|
Q4 2015 |
Q1 2016 |
Change |
|
|
Asylum cases pending a decision more than 6 months or require further review |
16,703 |
17,028 |
+325 |
|
Temporary and permanent visa applications in progress outside service standards* |
609 |
474 |
-135 |
|
Live legacy asylum cases |
19,710 |
19,506 |
-204 |
|
Live legacy immigration cases |
4,492 |
4,456 |
-36 |
|
FNOs living in the community |
5,789 |
5,985 |
+196 |
|
Migration refusal pool |
55,547 |
54,429 |
-1,118 |
|
Total |
102,850 |
101,878 |
-972 |
Source: Home Office, Migration Statistics, May 2016
* Includes in-country and out-of-country applications (including family reunion)
91.Legacy cases and those cases which are being processed outside of service standards constitute a backlog. There was a modest reduction in the size of the backlog during Q1 2016 but the Department must do better. There must be substantial reductions to the backlog before the Immigration Directorates are faced with the additional demands that the UK leaving the EU will bring.
© Parliamentary copyright 2015
25 July 2016