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Department instead appearing to formulate policy on “anecdote, assumption and prejudice”; and shows far too little concern over damage caused by its failures on both the illegal and legitimate migrant populations.

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The Home Office has “no idea” what its Immigration Enforcement Directorate’s £400 million annual spending achieves, says the Public Accounts Committee in a report published today, raising the spectre of the department making  policy decisions based not on evidence, but rather “anecdote, assumption and prejudice”. 

No knowledge of the illegal population

Despite years of public and political debate and concern, the Department still does not know the size of the illegal population in the UK. It does not know what harm the illegal population causes. It does not know how many people come to the UK legally and do not renew their visa, or how many deliberately come illegally.

The Home Office has not estimated the illegal population in the UK since 2005. It had no answer to the Committee’s concerns that potentially exaggerated figures calculated by unofficial sources could inflame hostility towards immigrants. 

The Home Office does not know whether policies introduced to create what the then Home Secretary dubbed a hostile environment to deter illegal migration.

The lack of evidence base and “significant lack of diversity” at senior levels has created organisational “blind spots”, with the Windrush scandal a damning indictment of “the damage such a culture creates”.

In 2019, 62% of immigration detainees were released from detention because the Department could not return them as planned to their country of origin – up from 58% the year before. The Department doesn’t know why this figure is so high, or what it can do to ensure these returns are completed as planned.

'Insufficiently prepared'

The Home Office is unprepared for the challenges the UK’s exit from the EU presents to its immigration enforcement operations.  In evidence to the Committee in mid-July it could provide no evidence that it had even begun discussions with the EU partners it relies on to support its international operations, including the return of foreign national offenders and illegal migrants.

The Home Office has belatedly accepted a previous Committee recommendation that it must extend its “lessons learned” review of Windrush Department beyond Caribbean Commonwealth nationals to include nationals from other Commonwealth countries.

The Committee is not convinced that the Department is sufficiently prepared to properly safeguard the existing, legal immigrant population in the UK, while also implementing a new immigration system and managing its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chair's comments

Meg Hillier MP, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, recently said:

“The Home Office has frighteningly little grasp of the impact of its activities in managing immigration. It shows no inclination to learn from its numerous mistakes across a swathe of immigration activities – even when it fully accepts that it has made serious errors.

“It accepts the wreckage that its ignorance and the culture it has fostered caused in the Windrush scandal - but the evidence we saw shows too little intent to change, and inspires no confidence that the next such scandal isn’t right around the corner.

“15 years after the then Home Secretary declared the UK’s immigration system “not fit for purpose” it is time for transformation of the Immigration Enforcement into a data-led organisation. Within six months of this report we expect a detailed plan, with set priorities and deadlines, for how the Home Office is going to make this transformation.”

Further information

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