Thousands of lone child asylum seekers have been left in limbo by the Home Office without a decision on their protection claims, with dozens waiting more than five years, official data has revealed.
Home Office data shows that over the past three years more than 7,500 children who travelled alone to the UK waited more than a year for an initial decision on whether or not to accept their asylum claim.
Lawyers, politicians and human rights campaigners have condemned the delays and warned of the serious impact they have on the mental health and wellbeing of vulnerable children.
The data, released to the Scottish National party, reveals that 57 children have waited more than five years for an initial decision – a significant proportion of their lives.
The number of delays was much higher in 2022 than in the previous two years, with four times as many children waiting more than a year for asylum, with 1,083 delayed cases in 2020 and 4,103 in 2021.
There has been a sevenfold increase in those waiting five years or more for an initial asylum decision, with just five in 2020 and 35 in 2022. In some cases, there may be delays because of disputes over a child’s age, later resolved in the child’s favour.
Kate Forbes, a Scottish National party MSP and former Scottish finance secretary, condemned the delays in making initial decisions on children’s asylum claims.
“These figures show the UK asylum system in crisis, with waits soaring and innocent children stuck in the middle of the UK government’s mess,” she said. “Every number represents a young and potentially vulnerable individual stuck waiting months if they are lucky, but more likely over a year, for a decision on their asylum to be made.
“Instead of creating a functioning asylum system, the Tory UK government’s hostile environment model has left thousands of children stuck in limbo. This is completely unacceptable.”
Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit, which has expertise in lone children’s asylum claims in England, said it had more than 300 children on its waiting list.
The unit blames a combination of the Home Office’s huge asylum backlog and the crisis in legal aid funding in the immigration legal sector, which has led to long waiting times for children to access legal advice.
Local councils in north-west England have provided some emergency funding for the centre to help children access legal advice more quickly.
Amanda Shah, a senior policy officer at GMIAU, said: “We regularly hear from young people who are confused, upset and angry that they are waiting months and months for the Home Office to make a decision on their asylum claim.
“No asylum decision means young people don’t have the safety and security they desperately need to get on with their lives in their new communities.”
The joint committee on human rights, a parliamentary body made up of MPs and peers, is holding an evidence session on Wednesday on whether the government is failing to protect the human rights of unaccompanied child asylum seekers.
The UK is legally obliged to respect the “best interests” principle that requires all decision makers to make the best interest of the child a primary consideration in their cases, as well as uphold the child’s rights as set out in the Human Rights Act.
The Home Office said: “The safety and welfare of all children is our utmost priority. Where possible we prioritise applications from children and young people, while we increase overall decision-maker numbers and capacity. We are allocating more resources to children and young people’s claims and our dedicated children’s case working hubs have sped up processing.”
