Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 35
35
Rejected
Proportion of complex visa cases increased during peak application periods due to scrutiny.
Conclusion
We asked the Home Office why the proportion of ‘complex’ cases increased during periods when it received large numbers of visa applications.98 Between the end of 2021 and 2024, it has marked 18% of applications (330,000 cases) as ‘complex’, but this increased to 31% between July and September 2023, which is the period when applications peaked.99 The Home Office told us this was due to it applying more scrutiny 92 Q 72 93 C&AG’s Report, footnote 15 94 Q 73 95 Qq 74, 76; C&AG’s Report, para 3.2 96 Qq 74, 78 97 C&AG’s Report, para 3.3 98 Q 75 99 C&AG’s Report, para 3.3, fig. 7 23 to applications, which required more information from applicants. It said it was not “gaming” its published performance statistics by marking cases as ‘complex’ when they were not.100
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.