A Home Office whistleblower has alleged that Britain’s asylum system is plagued by widespread fraud and dysfunction, claiming that as few as one per cent of applicants he encountered over years of assessing cases were genuine.
The official, identified only as “J” to protect his identity, told The Times that his experience as a Home Office decision-maker had left him convinced that fundamental weaknesses in the system were allowing potentially fabricated claims to succeed.
“At best 1 per cent of asylum seekers are genuine,” he told The Times. “There’s almost no aspect of the asylum system that isn’t either a massive fraud or just really dysfunctional. Nothing works as it should.”
The allegations, which have not been independently substantiated, are likely to intensify political pressure on the Government over the operation of Britain’s asylum system.
J, who said he had assessed thousands of applications, alleged that officials regularly encountered what staff referred to as “package claims” — applications containing strikingly similar accounts that appeared to follow established templates.
He argued that the structure of the asylum process itself made it unnecessarily difficult for decision-makers to identify potentially fabricated claims.
Applicants undergo an initial screening before a more detailed substantive interview, which can take place months later.
J claimed that asylum seekers were often deliberately vague during the first stage, allowing those with dishonest...
FAR-RIGHT groups have been celebrating a fire at a Glasgow tenement amid false claims that it was being renovated to house migrants. At around 5pm on Sunday, fire crews were called out to the blaz...