The Home Office is hiring asylum decision-makers from customer service and sales positions at McDonald’s, Tesco and Aldi as part of a recruitment drive to clear its huge backlog of asylum applications, the Observer can reveal.
The new recruits, hired through online advertising and high street recruitment agencies, have no prior experience or knowledge of the asylum system. Many are placed on rolling, temporary contracts, typically for three months. Despite being promised comprehensive training, decision-makers report being “left to fend for themselves” after two days, and having to conduct complex interviews and make “life or death” decisions.
Despite such responsibility, sources claim that staff refer to Lonely Planet guides for “potted histories” of applicants’ home countries, prioritise certain nationalities and preside over a “quantity above quality” approach.
A whistleblower with nearly two decades’ experience in asylum decision-making who is currently training new staff to carry out interviews, told the Observer: “They’re getting in far too many inexperienced people, with no understanding of the asylum system, and they just don’t have the support they need so they leave.” They added: “It’s a total disaster. They don’t know what they’re doing”.
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