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A flaw in the Home Office’s IT systems costing tens of millions of pounds has prevented NHS staff from starting work, delayed action against illegal immigrants and left children waiting 21 months to gain British citizenship. . I clearly can
The Atlas system has cost at least £71m to date and spending on the project is still rising. The system was supposed to “automate” asylum, citizenship and visa applications.
Rather, a series of bizarre glitches have caused significant delays and errors, some of which are considered “major incidents.” Home Office staff were “sobbing” as they watched the data that was supposed to be in the Atlas “evaporate into thin air”.
British citizenship applications, skilled worker visas, asylum applications, the EU Settlement Scheme and housing applications for Ukraine have all been hit by Atlas issues. It is also hampering enforcement of illegal immigrants working in the UK, according to the Independent Border and Immigration Chief Inspectorate (ICIBI).
The old system that Atlas was supposed to replace had to remain online, and disgruntled officials had to “double-enter” information into both systems.
The Home Office acknowledged that the high quality of Atlas data may make officials reluctant to trust it. It said “significant resources are being committed” to resolving ongoing issues, but the amount was not disclosed.
Some of the glitches have been classified as P1 “major” technical incidents, which the government said include “system access issues” and “widespread technical failures that may have a reputational impact.” It is said that there is a possibility that
The father of a British-born child who has been waiting 21 months to apply for British citizenship has told how he is now unable to leave the UK or go on school trips abroad. In another case, an NHS nurse was unable to start working in a hospital. She was hospitalized because she could not prove her right to work.
In response to legal letters and correspondence from members of Congress. Ithe Home Office referred to the Atlas delay only as an “IT issue” or “known technical issue” without providing further details.
Asylum caseworkers at the Home Office are being held back from meeting performance targets and financial incentives because of Atlas as they struggle to meet Rishi Sunak’s pledge to end a historic backlog of asylum claims. He said his co-workers were “sobbing” in his office because he didn’t have one.
They estimate that 40% of the cases Atlas has handled so far are “stuck” at various points due to glitches such as keeping civil servants out of asylum cases or failing to record decisions for several weeks. There is.
Other errors included Atlas transferring asylum cases to other departments of the Home Office that were unable to handle them, preventing interviews from being scheduled and stopping formal service of completed decisions.
“The case tracker was filled with cases and I felt overwhelmed and helpless,” the caseworker said.
“Last summer it got really bad. We all tried to write as many cases as we could, but we had to stay until late Friday afternoons to write cases, load them into Atlas, and see the results. Too many times I clicked on the results button just to. [performance] Statistics evaporate. ”
Several ICIBI reports have warned of errors and data problems in the Atlas, particularly regarding asylum applications, and blamed the system for delays in the Afghan resettlement program.
“Atlas slowed things down.”
The Independent Border and Immigration Chief Inspector (ICIBI) last week flagged errors and data issues in the Atlas in four separate reports published by the Home Office.
Former chief inspector David Neill, sacked by home secretary James Cleverley, warns in arReport on asylum casework“Efforts are hampered by a lack of progress in digitizing processes and clunky IT systems.
“The main system in use today, Atlas, does more to slow things down than to support decision-making.”
ICIBI said Atlas delayed issuing biometric residence permits and that there were “missing interview records, duplicate records, and discrepancies” between Atlas and other systems that prevented newly recognized refugees from finding housing or employment. It was determined that the site had been abandoned without being able to be found.
a Another ICIBI report finds Atlas issues slowing resettlement in Afghanistan Some sponsors were “untraceable” in the system, meaning staff had to call people and ask about their immigration status.
The report said some Afghan refugees had to restart their applications because Atlas “failed to record” that they had submitted biometric information to the Home Office.
ICIBI also warned: Report illegal labor enforcement, Atlas was not linking data on illegal immigrants and illegal overstayers in other IT systems in the way it was supposed to, causing delays. and, Report on deprivation of citizenship ICIBI found that inspectors had failed to record some decisions regarding the atlas.
The Essex and London Refugee and Migrant Forum (Rumfell), a charity supporting vulnerable migrants, has spoken on behalf of several families whose citizenship applications for British-born children have been delayed due to unspecified “IT issues”. He said there was.
Nick Beals, the charity’s head of campaigns, said: “There is no justification for the government to take more than a year to process these simple applications, delaying these children’s rightful access to citizenship and the safety that comes with it. “You can’t, especially when your parents are paying thousands of dollars.” A Home Office fee of £1.00 will be charged. ”
A letter from the Home Office to Ramfel on January 23 states:
“Our IT team has spent a significant amount of effort investigating the issues and understanding the root causes of all incidents. We are now developing a strategic plan and beginning work to resolve these IT issues. Significant resources are being dedicated to resolving the issue and we are making operational progress.”
A Home Office response sent to several MPs who brought the constituent case last year said that while there were “IT issues impacting UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) applications”, “the number of bugs is minimal”. It was stated that programs have been put in place to ensure that the number of deaths is kept to a minimum.
Parliamentary caseworkers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they had been informed by the Home Office that the “IT issues” described in the official response were caused by Atlas.
12-year-old’s school trip canceled due to IT delays
The father of one of the children affected by the Atlas delay said: I He paid a £1,012 fee to register his son’s British citizenship in June 2022, claiming the boy was born in the UK and had lived there all his life.
“At first I didn’t have any money, so I had to ask someone to lend me money and charge it to my credit card to apply,” said the man, who requested anonymity.
“It still hasn’t been addressed. We’ve been told there was an issue with IT and it’s still going on for almost two years now.”
As a result, the man’s son, now 12, was unable to obtain a British passport and was unable to go on school trips abroad.
“He seems really unhappy because all his classmates are going,” his father said. “He has never been outside the UK, he was born here and he has never left the UK.
“I have tried to engage MPs, they have contacted the Home Office several times and we have lodged a complaint. I don’t know where to go for help.”
When the family made an “identical” claim for their eldest son in 2019, before Atlas was rolled out, there were no issues and it was resolved within six months.
“I really don’t know how to explain it to my son. Every time he asks me I just say we’re trying, but sometimes he just goes to his room and closes the door. “He doesn’t want to talk to anyone,” his father said. He said. “We are left with no choice but to deal with the consequences of their incompetence. We need to do something about it.”
The system became operational in 2019 and was gradually rolled out to various departments within the Home Office, but faced several delays, partly due to Brexit, the Afghan evacuation and the war in Ukraine.
In July, the Home Office’s chief technology officer praised the “modernization of immigration services”, adding: “Atlas will automate large parts of the immigration process and ultimately eradicate the use of paper…Applications for people moving to the UK will now be dealt with more quickly, improving the user experience. Did.”
Published government contracts show that £71 million has been spent on Atlas since 2019, but the system is part of a wider ‘Immigration Platform Technology’ programme, so the real cost is much more. It is considered expensive.
The Home Office’s financial review for September 2022, which was not published until January this year, said the program has cost £406m since 2014 and is expected to cost a further £66m by the time it is completed. He said that it has been done.
The magazine said that Atlas is used by 30,000 people, but that “the underlying quality of the data…may be unwilling to trust the validity of the new system’s data, making it difficult to successfully implement Atlas.” poses a risk,” he warned.
Several MPs asked questions in parliament about delays in visa and citizenship applications, with Home Secretary Tom Pursgrove admitting on February 27: “From 2023 onwards, applications to remain in the UK will increasingly be processed through the new casework system, Atlas… A number of issues arose during the development of Atlas.”
Pursgrove said the problems were not “systemic” and were largely resolved within days.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Atlas successfully processes around 120,000 applications each month, including asylum applications, security checks and the issuance of biometric residence permits.
“In a small number of cases, when IT issues arise, our dedicated technical support team provides priority resolution.
“We are investing in digital infrastructure to create a modern asylum caseworking system that is subject to continuous improvement and commitment.”