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An asylum seeker known as AMX, represented by Alex Goodman KC of Landmark Chambers, brought a claim for judicial review in March this year alleging that the failure of the Home Department to make decisions whether to admit asylum seekers to the asylum process was unlawful. The claim has today been settled on terms that everyone who was placed within a cohort designated for removal to Rwanda will now have their asylum claims determined as a matter of priority. The Court’s order here will affect the position of thousands of asylum seekers. It brings an end to the “limbo” in which many people who claimed asylum have been placed for the last two and a half years.
In this claim for judicial review the Claimant challenged:
The Defendant’s delay in reaching decisions as to the admissibility of their individual asylum claim; and
The lawfulness of the Defendant’s “pause” in decision-making in respect of those who had been issued with notices of intent (NOIs) referencing the possibility of removal to Rwanda (“the MEDP cohort”), which was formalised by the SSHD in a statement published on 14 February 2024.
The Migration and Economic Partnership (“MEDP”) was entered into between the UK and Rwanda on 13 April 2022 and from around mid-May 2022 the SSHD began to issue notices of intent (NOIs) to asylum seekers where there was evidence that the individual had arrived in the UK by way of a dangerous journey and had been present in or had a connection with a safe third country. Earlier this week the SSHD sought to settle the Claimant’s claim on the basis that the Claimant would be admitted for his claim to be considered in the UK. The Claimant refused to settle on those terms, insisting that the lawfulness of the policy affecting thousands of others should also be determined. The SSHD then confirmed late at night on Thursday 18 July that all of the MEDP cohort will have the merits of their asylum claims substantively determined in the UK. The claim has accordingly been compromised following a hearing before Collins Rice J today.
The SSHD has agreed to treat the Claimants (and all others from the MEDP cohort) as having joined the UK asylum system on the date when they first claimed asylum. In practice that means that their claims will be dealt with as a priority and, in general and with a view to fairness overall, will be prioritised ahead of any cases where asylum was claimed on a later date. The SSHD operates guidance in the form of the ‘Asylum decision making prioritisation guidance’ dated 11 October 2023[1] which makes clear that exceptional cases will be prioritised including those involving e.g. serious physical or mental health problems. In those circumstances, there are measures in place which will ensure that cases in the MEDP cohort are prioritised within the asylum system.
A model order has been made by the Court which allows for the settlement of other claims on similar terms to follow suit in short order next week.
Alex Goodman KC of Landmark Chambers led Ali Bandegani in this lead case and in thirteen other similar claims instructed by Duncan Lewis Solicitors.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/asylum-decision-making-prioritisation-caseworker-guidance/asylum-decision-making-prioritisation-accessible
