Immigration policy development

On this page:

Consultation on Funding Immigration and Asylum Legal Aid in the First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal
Voluntary Appointment Pilot (VAS) Evaluation - Wales & South West
Guidance for claiming immigration controlled work disbursements for pre-01 October 07 Cases
Appointment-making pilot for asylum applicants
Early Advice Pilot in Solihull
Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children

Consultation on Funding Immigration and Asylum Legal Aid in the First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal

In August 2008, the UK Border Agency published a consultation 'Immigration Appeals, Fair Decisions; Faster Justice' which set out proposals to deliver an immigration appeals system that is faster, final and respected.
The intention of the consultation was to incorporate the work of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT) within the unified tribunal structure created by the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement (TCE) Act 2007.
In May 2009, a response to the consultation was published, setting out how the new tribunal would work.

From a funding perspective, the aim is to replicate, as closely as possible, the current scheme of payments in the new tribunals.

The consultation

The Ministry of Justice has recently issued consultation documents setting out how we propose to ensure that funding remains available for appeals which will transfer from the AIT into the new tribunal structure, along with the consequential LSC contract amendments.

The consultation closes on Friday, 21 August 2009.
You are reminded that responses to the consultation should be addressed to the Ministry of Justice.
Further information can be found in the full consultation documents, which are located in the documents panel on the right of this page.

Voluntary Appointment Pilot (VAS) Evaluation - Wales & South West

Earlier this year we piloted a new, innovative electronic appointment system for asylum applicants in Wales and South West.

The pilot sought to test whether we could replace our previous paper based rota system, with a more efficient internet based system, better reflecting provider availability and increasing applicants' ability to access legal advice early in the asylum process.

The pilot involved collaborative working between the LSC, the Welsh Refugee Council (WRC) and our Immigration providers in Wales and South West. The WRC acted as operators of the system, able to offer appointments to those applicants housed by the Home Office in accommodation in Cardiff.

Providers would upload appointments onto the system which clients could then choose based on the date/time that they were available, and their distance to the provider.

The pilot exceeded the targets that had been put in place; 100% of applicants were able to receive an appointment within a week, reducing the average wait from 8 calendar days to 3.

This significantly increased the time available to both clients and representatives to prepare their case before their interview.

Building on the success of the pilot, we now intend to implement the system in the region in place of the paper rota.

We will also seek to develop the system further to make it more reflective of the needs of the providers and operators.

We are also undertaking further testing of the Voluntary Appointment System in two other Home Office regions.

In the North West we have been working with Home Office staff who have operated the system and offered appointments to applicants in the region; the Refugee Council are currently performing the same role for applicants accommodated in Yorkshire and Humberside.

If these pilots are also a success, we would envisage rolling out the system in place of the paper rota before the start of the new Civil contracts in 2010.

This work represents significant strides in ensuring increased access to legal advice for some of the most vulnerable members of society by providing greater opportunity for early advice to be given.

More information

If you would like to know more about the pilot please contact the Immigration Policy Team . The report is available via the link on the right hand side of the page.

Guidance for Claiming Immigration Controlled Work Disbursements for pre-01 October 07 Cases

Following discussions with providers and representative bodies, we can announce details of a one-off exercise allowing providers to submit disbursement claims (to include counsel's fees) outside the normal billing rules.

This applies to all asylum and non-asylum cases where the matter was opened by you before 1 October 2007.

You can only claim those unclaimed disbursements incurred up to (and including) 30 September 2008 in cases started before 1 October 2007. Counsel’s fees may also be claimed but not in relation to review/ reconsideration cases.

You can start to make these disbursement and/or counsel fee claims with immediate effect.

Please note:

All submissions must be made by 20 August 2009 (i.e. the date by which the July 2009 CMRF submission is made electronically).
You should not submit any claims in relation to this exercise after this date.
Should this occur the LSC reserves the right to re-coup these claims.
This claiming guidance will not apply to NFP providers.
This is a one-off exercise and is not the introduction of a new stage claim. Neither does it deflect from the LSC commitment to explore billing options further under its 2010 contract.

We have amended the guidance to request the use of a Case Concluded Date of 25/12/08 for these claims.

Full details can be found in the documents panel of this page

If you have any queries on the billing exercise please contact your Relationship / Account Manager.

Appointment-making pilot for asylum applicants

On 1 April we launched the first part of a new pilot, trialling an internet based appointment-making system for new asylum applicants in Wales and the South West.

A pilot originally scheduled to start in the North West on Monday 30 March has had to be postponed until a later date due to a change in Home Office processes.

In Wales and the South West, our operator will be the Welsh Refugee Council.

The pilot will initially replace a paper-based rota.

The aim of the pilot is to ensure that applicants have access to local, quality advice as early as possible and before their substantive interview with the UKBA.

All providers in the region have been invited to take part in the pilot. Appointments will be offered to clients based on their location and when an appointment is required. Providers will have the freedom to manage the level of appointments that they make available, and the client will choose which appointment they accept.

The pilot should run for at least 3 months.

For further information please email the Immigration Policy team or contact us on 020 7783 7540.

Early Advice Pilot in Solihull

In 2006 the UK Border Agency (UKBA) and the LSC developed a proposal for improving the quality of asylum decisions. The Solihull Early Legal Advice Pilot aimed to allow claimants access to quality information and advice from legal advisers from the earliest stages of the asylum process.

A decision is made by the UKBA caseworker after interviewing an asylum applicant. The LSC allows the applicant to access legal advice before this process.

The pilot identified and tested four constituent elements:

A ‘pre-interview discussion’ process between the UKBA caseworker and the legal representative - a meaningful discussion to identify key issues and narrow those issues, providing structure and focus for the actual interview.

An ‘interactive interview’ - the representative would attend the asylum interview with the applicant to help focus on the key issues, to protect the applicant, to help disclosure by the applicant, to intervene where appropriate and to clarify issues as they arose.

‘Oral submissions’ after the interactive interview - to ask the UKBA caseworker if any concerns remain, to address concerns or doubts, to highlight key evidence and to explain and persuade.

‘Post interview discussion’ between the UKBA caseworker and the legal representative - to find out what is accepted, what is not accepted and why, to consider what further evidence may be relevant and available, to provide focus for written representations.

The LSC and UKBA have concluded that further 'rollout testing' should be undertaken for at least 12 months. This rollout test will be called the ‘Early Legal Advice Process’ (ELAP).

The LSC will incorporate rollout testing into the 2010 contract procurement process.
A specific bid round for an ELAP type service will be conducted in the region chosen to undertake the rollout test.
This region will be identified shortly.

Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC)

We're working closely with the Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) Reform Programme and our other stakeholders to work out how legal services should be provided to these clients.

Visit the Civil Bid Rounds for 2010 Contracts consultation page for further information.

Details of the UASC Reform Programme can be found on the Home Office Website.

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Last updated: 27 October 2009