Revealed: Britain’s ‘soft touch’ approach to assessing asylum claims with officials told they can’t reject the testimony of migrants who are caught lying

• Mail On Sunday has obtained official guidance issued to Home Office staff
• They are ordered not to be sceptical when quizzing asylum seekers

Britain’s extraordinarily ‘soft touch’ approach to assessing asylum claims by illegal migrants can be revealed by The Mail on Sunday today.

This newspaper has obtained a copy of official guidance issued to Home Office staff tasked with handling the backlog of 170,000 applications to stay in the UK by foreign nationals who arrive here in small boats or are smuggled in the back of lorries. Government documents reveal:

• Officials have been told they cannot reject the testimony of a migrant who is caught lying;

• They are ordered not to be sceptical when quizzing asylum seekers – including those who have come from safe countries;

• Asylum seekers must be reassured that they need not answer upsetting questions;

• Home Office staff are ‘forbidden’ from asking questions about ‘sexual preferences or activity’ in cases where migrants claim to be fleeing persecution because of their sexual orientation.

Officials have been told they cannot reject the testimony of a migrant who is caught lying (Pictured: RNLI bringing 50 migrants ashore at Dover)

Rishi Sunak has vowed to slash the huge mountain of outstanding asylum claims – the highest since records began. The Home Office is recruiting 700 extra caseworkers to speed up the claims, taking its total workforce to 2,500. But the official guidance for staff who interview asylum seekers reveals how the system appears dramatically skewed towards approving claims and exposes the flimsiness of the evidence required to allow a migrant to stay in the UK.

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Around three-quarters of asylum seekers are allowed to stay in the UK – up from before the pandemic when only one third were granted permission.

Critics last night said the guidelines raise major questions over the Government’s ability to strike out fraudulent claims and identify criminals attempting to sneak into Britain.

Richard Tice, leader of Reform UK, last night branded the guidelines a ‘charter for fraud and abuse’. Mr Tice, who was handed the documents by a whistleblower, added: ‘No wonder the Home Office is accepting some 75 per cent of asylum claims when the whole lengthy interview process is so heavily skewed in favour of the claimant. They are allowed to lie without sanction. Yet caseworkers assessing applicants are not allowed to be sceptical. No wonder the UK is considered the golden ticket, and a strong magnet for criminals, fraudsters and smugglers.’

Former Brexit Secretary David Davis last night branded the guidance a ‘formula for failure’ which would ‘reinforce the impression of startling incompetence’ at the Home Office. The senior Tory MP said: ‘It really is hard to understand who on earth devised these guidelines and what they expected to achieve in terms of controlling illegal migration into the country.

‘Most of the British public will be horrified by these guidelines.’

The Daily Mail last month revealed how rogue lawyers are charging thousands of pounds to submit false asylum claims for illegal migrants. Some offer to help coach clients to tell lies for their so-called ‘substantive’ Home Office interview – a key moment in the asylum process. Now this newspaper can reveal how lying during these interviews – or in the accompanying paperwork – does not necessarily mean that a claim will be thrown out.

A 67-page document, which details guidance to help caseworkers assess whether asylum claims are genuine, states: ‘The impact of lies will depend on their relevance in the context of the claim and you must avoid dismissing as unreliable everything the claimant has said solely because they have lied about one aspect of their claim.’

Around three-quarters of asylum seekers are allowed to stay in the UK – up from before the pandemic when only one third were granted permission (Pictured: Suella Braverman)

Staff are instead told to ‘assess the relevance of lies in the context of the evidence in the round and you must give the claimant a chance to explain any inconsistencies in their account.’

The officials are told asylum seekers ‘are expected to tell the truth’ but some might lie because of ‘fear or lack of trust in authority, fear the information will not be kept confidential, or because of advice they were given by agents.’

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A separate 71-page document, detailing guidance for staff conducting asylum interviews, instructs staff that they must ask questions that ‘go to the heart’ of why a claimant has fled their country. But it warns staff that they ‘must not…approach the interview with scepticism’. ‘You should be careful not to phrase this type of question to imply scepticism about the reality of the danger or to suggest criticism of the claimant’s conduct in leaving the country without their family.’

Claimants, meanwhile, are reassured that they may request a break at any point ‘if they are tired or if they are finding the process difficult or upsetting’.

The guidance adds: ‘Explain that the claimant should not feel obliged to answer upsetting questions, that it is reasonable for them to interrupt the interview to say if they feel too upset to answer questions on a particular subject…’

Experts fear the guidance is preventing caseworkers from getting an accurate picture of exactly why an asylum seeker has fled to the UK. Staff are advised that those who are fleeing because they claim they are being persecuted on the grounds that they are gay, lesbian or bisexual do not have to prove their sexual orientation.

Caseworkers are told to ‘focus the interview’ on establishing the claimant’s ‘current sexual orientation or gender identity’ – but are given scant advice on how to achieve that. Instead, the guidance warns they are ‘forbidden in law from asking questions about sexual preferences or activity.’ Similarly, asylum seekers who claim they have been tortured do not have to prove they were abused.

‘Potential survivors of torture should be allowed to determine the level of disclosure they are able or want to make,’ the guidance adds. Caseworkers who need more information in order to decide whether a claim is genuine are advised to ask the claimant’s lawyer. The guidance provides caseworkers with a list of possible questions to ask alleged torture victims – including the method of torture used – but they are warned to stop asking questions ‘as soon as you think it is likely that the abuse has taken place’.

The Daily Mail last month revealed how rogue lawyers are charging thousands of pounds to submit false asylum claims for illegal migrants

Officials have been told they cannot reject the testimony of a migrant who is caught lying (Pictured: Dover)

The document also includes a list of factors that could make it more difficult to assess the credibility of a claim. They include the education of the claimant, language barriers and the ability of an interpreter to accurately relay the asylum seeker’s answers. Case workers are told to use ‘open… non-threatening’ body language ‘for example, keeping your arms uncrossed and smiling where appropriate’.

Alp Mehmet, of Migration Watch UK which campaigns for tougher border controls, blamed the lax guidance for why the proportion of asylum claims granted by Britain is nearly three times that granted by the French.

He added: ‘It is nonsense that applicants must not be pressed about the very reason that prompts their claim. Corrupt lawyers and traffickers know this only too well and can concoct the false backstories for migrants that cannot be disproved, as recently uncovered by the Daily Mail.’

The MoS has learnt that most of the interviews with asylum seekers are not face-to-face but carried out via video calls.

In some cases the asylum seeker, his or her interpreter and the Home Office official are all in different locations.

Caseworkers are warned that video interviews ‘can sometimes lose some of the key clues of communication that we all subconsciously rely on, so it is important to make it clear at the start that you will be taking notes during the interview and will not always be able to look at the camera.’

The Home Office said: ‘All asylum applications are considered on their individual merits in line with the asylum rules and the evidence presented.

‘Our processes are underpinned by a robust framework of safeguards and quality checks, ensuring that claims are properly considered, decisions are sound, and that protection is granted to those who genuinely need it.

‘We are working to reduce the number of outstanding claims having doubled the number of asylum decision makers over the past two years.’

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