Amnesty UK warns Immigration and Asylum Bill would remove independent judicial scrutiny of Home Office decisions

A short briefing published by Amnesty International UK last week has raised concerns over proposals in the Immigration and Asylum Bill to replace the existing immigration and asylum appeals tribunal with a new body.

You can download it here.

The Bill proposes the creation of a new Independent Immigration Appeals Authority (IIAA), which would replace the current First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) (FTTIAC) as the first tier of appeals against Home Office decisions. The IIAA would also handle applications for immigration bail.

Amnesty said the proposed changes raised serious concerns about the professionalism and independence of the new appeals body.

Under the proposals, decisions would be made by adjudicators rather than judges. Amnesty noted that adjudicators would not necessarily be required to have professional legal qualifications or experience, although the IIAA would provide training and legal support.

The briefing also questioned the proposed relationship between the IIAA and the Home Office. It said the new body would form part of the wider immigration and asylum system operated by the Home Office and that the Home Secretary would have a role in appointing senior officials and, indirectly, adjudicators.

Amnesty contrasted this with the existing FTTIAC, which is part of the judicial system and whose judges are not appointed, trained or overseen by the Home Secretary.

It said concerns over the IIAA's independence were particularly significant in light of the reasons given for replacing the existing tribunal, which include reducing the backlog of appeals and enabling the Home Office to remove more people from the UK, and to do so more quickly. Amnesty emphasised that both of these are Home Office objectives.

After briefly outlining the history of the appeals system and noting that previous changes have made the system more independent and more professional, Amnesty warned: "The bill undoes all changes to increase independence and professionalism within the first tier of the appeals system – indeed, it goes further. The loss of professionalism is made more concerning because the law relating to decision-making within this system has been made more complicated (and this bill will complicate it further). The loss of independence is made more concerning because the policy area within which this system works has also become more politically contentious."

Amnesty said it opposes replacing the FTTIAC with the IIAA or by any other body that is created by or part of the Home Office.

The briefing concludes: "The aim of the bill is straightforwardly to remove independence and judicial scrutiny of the department's decision-making for the convenience of government policy and political ambitions. Importantly, that not only includes the ambitions of the present government and the present Home Secretary – it includes that of any future government and Home Secretary. The impact of this is enlarged since the people whose rights are affected are generally excluded from the democratic political process, yet their rights are especially vulnerable to that political process as is confirmed by the measures in this bill (including the provisions to remove the independent judicial body that currently serves as the primary guarantor of their rights against error or other violation by the Home Office)."