By limiting the application of human rights and rolling back modern slavery protections, the Home Secretary’s plans will lead to 6,500 more undocumented people every year, creating “an underclass of precarious workers,” reports the Work Rights Centre.

New policy analysis from charity the Work Rights Centre finds the recently announced Immigration and Asylum Bill, laid before Parliament last Tuesday 30th June, will push thousands of people into undocumented status and, by the government’s own admission, increase the risk of labour exploitation and modern slavery.

The Bill seeks to restrict the legal definition of family and tighten eligibility for people applying to remain in the UK on human rights grounds under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, leading to more refused applications.

It also introduces a new ‘credibility’ test for potential victims of slavery or trafficking and removes protection from victims who need psychological recovery, forcing them instead to co-operate with the authorities before they can be granted temporary protection from removal. This will tighten the Modern Slavery Act to the point where ever more genuine survivors will be shut out of protections, while costing taxpayers an anticipated £4.4 million.

According to the government’s own Impact Assessment, the changes to human rights and modern slavery applications will:

• Lead to 14,000 more refusals of human rights applications every year.
• Generate a further 3,400 appeals a year, at a projected cost to the taxpayer of £80.8 million over ten years.
• Leave 11,700 people with a final, post-appeal refusal – of whom more than half (55%) are expected to remain in the UK with no right to work, no right to public support, and at heightened risk of poverty, trafficking and labour exploitation. That amounts to 6,500 more undocumented people every year.
• Cost £272.4 million in forced removals and asylum processing for those who are removed or forced into the asylum system as a result.
• Cost the public purse an estimated £2 billion over ten years once lost tax revenue and visa fee income are accounted for.
• Have an overall Net Present Social Value of -£50.4 million over the ten years impact assessment period.

The Bill also proposes outsourcing reviews of Home Office decisions on asylum, human rights and deportation to a new Independent Immigration Appeal Authority, made up largely of lay members of the public rather than legally qualified judges. Handing life-changing decisions – including on asylum, human rights, deportation – to untrained adjudicators risks a serious decline in the quality of decision-making, at the expense of the people whose futures are at stake. 

Dr Dora-Olivia Vicol, CEO of the Work Rights Centre said: “At a time when undocumented migrants are continuously scapegoated, it is unconscionable  for the Home Office to pursue a policy agenda that would increase the number of undocumented people living in the UK by the thousands, with no right to work and no safety net. 

“This slash-and-burn policy will create a growing underclass of precarious workers trapped in exploitative jobs (because they have no legal alternative), and will remove even the most basic protections from victims of modern slavery.

“This is why Andy Burnham, if he becomes PM, must choose a different path – one that is not cruel, costly, and completely unnecessary. We urge MPs to reject this false choice between efficiency and justice, and to amend this Bill so it protects rather than endangers migrant people and victims of slavery.”

Read our full briefing on the Bill’s provisions relating to appeals, human rights and modern slavery protections published 6th July.

The Work Rights Centre is a registered charity dedicated to ending in-work poverty. Its multilingual team helps migrants and disadvantaged Britons to access employment justice and improve their social mobility, by providing free and confidential advice in the areas of employment, immigration, and social security, and by mobilising frontline intelligence to address the systemic causes of inequality.

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