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Civil servants at the Home Office are “running away” from roles related to the Rwanda plan, insiders have revealed, amid internal dissatisfaction with the government’s attempts to implement an “unworkable” plan. .
According to officials, I There is already high turnover in the ministry’s asylum division, with staff looking to move on to other roles or leave altogether as Rishi Sunak approaches his July target date for taking off on a flight to Kigali. , which is likely to rise further.
A new wave of legal challenges is expected, and public officials are grappling with a series of practical challenges, including limited space to house asylum seekers selected for deportation.
“This law is not only inhumane but also unworkable,” said a civil servant involved in the project, revealing widespread dissatisfaction with the law within the ministry.
News continues IIt has emerged that Home Office staff are being asked to apply for jobs in Rwanda to help process asylum claims for migrants sent there from the UK.
Some officials in the ministry were said to be “delighted” when the Rwanda Security Act was passed this week. However, some oppose the plan on ethical grounds, and many believe it remains illegal, fearing personal liability.
The FDA trade union, which represents senior civil servants, is considering launching a judicial review of the law, and the Public Commercial Services Union (PCS) has voted to strike if its staff are ordered to breach the European Court of Human Rights. The ruling does not exclude the possibility that
Another official said: “If a policy cannot be agreed upon, the only option available to staff at this time is to move on to another role.”
“The asylum sector has been operating with a 25% reduction in staffing for a year because the whole thing has been a shit show. They now know that clearing the backlog of refugees with no hope of being sent to Rwanda is another shit show. I know it.”
Due to the huge backlog and uncertainty over how the Illegal Immigration Act, which is the Prime Minister’s centerpiece, will be applied, none of the 73,000 asylum applications submitted since March 7, 2023 have been processed and queues remain. is increasing day by day.
Approximately 40,000 of these are small boat migrants, who are subject to the government’s new “removal obligations,” but the Rwanda Plan has not been activated and there are no other countries that may be subject to the Rwanda Plan. The agreement remains in limbo as no agreement has yet been signed.in most cases.
The prime minister clarified on Monday that the new law “makes clear that if you are in the country illegally, you cannot stay in the country.” But a Home Office staff member said: I It would be impossible to detain and then deport so many people.
“Even if we could capture everyone, the primary problem is that we don’t have enough detention space or personnel,” said an official involved in the project. “Even with extraordinary detention powers, you cannot detain someone for more than 28 days without challenge. That doesn’t work.”
The civil servant said there was “a lot of dissatisfaction” within the Home Office about the wider “chaos” of the Rwanda Plan and the government’s asylum policy, and that the civil service was struggling to meet performance targets, with a series of job cuts and recent He added that he was outraged by the next order. Reduce working from home from 3 days a week to 2 days a week.
“Attrition rates are rising because people are running away from direct involvement in Rwanda. As a result, many people are being given temporary promotions and new employees (mostly government employees) are taking up the job. That’s why they quit so quickly,” he added.
“They’re constantly replacing people. They’re constantly training new people, but the quality of work goes down because people with expertise leave.”
A third official said many staff in the Home Office’s asylum division were worried about their future if the government’s plans were implemented, as the number of applications they could consider would be significantly reduced. .
“Although the Rwanda Safety Act has been passed, there are still weeks until flight and further legal challenges are expected,” she added. “We are looking at the possibility of a change in leadership later this year and Labor has said it will abolish the scheme. Most staff are temporary workers and there will be significant redundancies in any case. However, full-time employees are concerned about the longevity of their roles.”
Last year’s Illegal Immigration Act was intended to create a legal framework to expedite the expulsion of small boat migrants to Rwanda, but it has not yet come into force, so the government is using an old Relying on process.
The Refugee Council says that although the law prevents the UK from processing asylum claims, it does not have sufficient capacity to deport everyone to Rwanda, and that the law will allow 115,575 people to be returned to Rwanda by the end of the year. of asylum seekers could find themselves in a “perpetual stalemate”.
The charity predicts the backlog will cause a “meltdown”. The report found that because asylum seekers are prohibited from working to support themselves before they are eligible, it would cost the government £17.1 million a day to accommodate and support them. I estimate that it will be.
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said the calculations showed the “huge cost, disruption and human misery caused by the Illegal Immigration Act and the Rwanda Plan”, adding: “It is a completely avoidable system. It will cause another meltdown,” he added. Instead of operating an effective and fair asylum system, the government recklessly introduced this misguided legislation, with no regard for its enormous costs and long-term impact. ”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Home Office staff are committed to supporting the Government’s priority of stopping and delivering boats in accordance with the Civil Service Act.
“Staff working on the Rwanda Plan are being given all the support and training they need to carry out their roles. As the Prime Minister has made clear, there will be flights to Rwanda within the next 10 to 12 weeks. intend to do something.”