Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 7
7
Accepted
High caseworker turnover continues to hinder asylum decision-making capacity and productivity
Recommendation
In the year to April 2023, 25% of caseworkers left their role.15 The Home Office told us the proportion of caseworkers leaving had reduced since the C&AG’s report (published in June 2023) and that some caseworkers leave the role for internal promotions, but it acknowledged that this level of turnover is “nowhere near where it needs to be, which is at 7% or 8%”.16 The Home Office also said that it recruits caseworkers through a rolling campaign, so that it will be able to keep the number of caseworkers at 2,500.17
Government Response Summary
The government accepted the recommendation, confirming it met the target of increasing asylum caseworkers to 2,500 by September 2023 and is continuing rolling recruitment campaigns to maintain these staffing levels.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented. The department stepped up processing, deploying an additional 1,200 caseworkers, meeting our target to double the number of asylum caseworkers and tripling productivity to ensure more illegal migrants are returned to their country of origin, quicker. The Home Office achieved the commitment to increase the number of asylum caseworkers to 2,500 by September 2023. On 31 August 2023, there were 2,510 decision makers in post, demonstrating that during this month we exceeded our target. Numbers rose to 2,529 in October before falling slightly due to natural attrition as individuals change roles or leave posts. Our recruitment campaign continues, and we expect to maintain to have 2,500 decision makers going forward. The department has quadrupled the number of decision makers over the last 2 years and is continuing to recruit more. There are recruitment strategies in place to maintain staffing at the required levels to allow the department to manage asylum intake and reduce the overall time to make initial asylum decisions, including rolling recruitment campaigns.