Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 34
34
Rejected
Home Office excludes complex cases from processing statistics, with significant delays for many.
Conclusion
The Home Office marks cases as ‘complex’ for reasons such as the customer not supplying the correct information, third party checks being required or the applicant having a pending prosecution. The times taken to process these cases are not included in the Home Office’s published processing statistics.95 The Home Office said it was not possible to determine a service standard for ‘complex’ cases as there are a wide range of factors that are outside of its control.96 Analysis of management information on Skilled Worker visa extensions showed that, between the start of 2021 and the end of 2024, it took the Home Office over 100 days to make a decision on 6,500 ‘complex’ applications.97
Government Response Summary
The government disagrees with the implied recommendation, stating that complex cases are excluded from published Service Standards, but service level agreements for Skilled Worker visas are published, and reasons for complex cases are available on GOV.UK.
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government
Rejected
6.1 The government disagrees with the Committee’s recommendation. 6.3 Complex cases are excluded from published Service Standards, but there are service level agreements for Skilled Worker visas, and these are published in the department’s transparency statistics. Reasons for complex cases, such as national security or criminal concerns, safeguarding issues, or the need to verify evidence through third parties, are outlined on GOV.UK (Visa processing times: applications inside the UK) and referenced in the NAO’s report.