Up to 9,000 more immigration and asylum cases to be heard before end of March 2023
A short but notable statement released today by the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office has announced extra funding of £5 million to increase the capacity of the Immigration and Asylum Tribunal in order to help clear the backlog of cases.
The number of days tribunals can operate will increase, allowing up to 9,000 more immigration and asylum cases to be heard before the end of March 2023, the statement says.
Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said: "This investment will allow judges to hear many more cases across our immigration and asylum tribunals over the next 3 months. It means decisions can be made more quickly, helping us tackle the backlog, ensure justice is served, and remove those who are not eligible."
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick also emphasised the desire for more removals, saying; "Faster decisions will enable us to speed up the removal of those with no right to be here, strengthen deterrence against those seeking to abuse our system and focus our efforts on those in genuine need."
The statement did not say whether the new measures would continue beyond March 2023.
There is a backlog of 25,000 cases in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber, plus a growing backlog of asylum applications awaiting an initial decision (relating to 143,377 people, according to the latest statistics).