London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Jul 10, 2025

Child asylum seekers 'falling apart' due to Home Office delays

Child asylum seekers 'falling apart' due to Home Office delays

Halt to interviews in March last year due to Covid has had ‘devastating emotional impact’, social workers say
Children are emotionally and physically falling apart because the UK asylum system ground to a halt during the pandemic, according to social workers and charities.

Young people who have arrived in the UK on their own have faced huge delays in receiving an asylum decision as the Home Office system for interviewing children largely ground to a halt last March, resulting in a “devastating emotional impact”.

These delays have had severe repercussions on their mental and physical health, including reports of self-harm, insomnia and stress-related disorders such as hair loss and painful skin conditions, a report shows.

For children, the usual procedure would include two interviews before a decision from the Home Office. The system has been suspended from March 2020 for nearly all cases due to Covid restrictions, despite interviews for adults restarting last summer. After a pilot programme of conducting interviews remotely began in Kent, the Home Office said it hoped to roll these out nationally, but only has 37 out of 343 of local authorities in England have signed up. Over the last two weeks children in some areas have received dates for remote interviews.

According to Home Office statistics, 2,868 unaccompanied children applied for asylum in 2020. The government’s own guidance recognises that these children are among the most vulnerable in the country.

A report from the Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit (GMIAU) calls for the Home Office to make decisions on all children’s asylum claims without interviews where possible and expedite the system for remote interviews, saying it is “inhumane” to expect them to wait any longer.

The report describes one child supported by the service who has been stuck in limbo awaiting a decision for more than a year and a half. In Greater Manchester the average time is 410 days. A previous target of six months for processing asylum claims was scrapped in 2019.

The research on the impact of the delays was based on children in Greater Manchester but services around the country have echoed its findings.

The delays have meant that many children had turned 18 while awaiting a decision, meaning they will no longer automatically receive the same protections and support such as a legal representative, responsible adult and interpreter.

As well as reports of a deterioration in mental health from children expressing anxiety over their status in the UK, on top of the pressures of lockdown, social workers have also reported that relationships with friends and adults in these children’s lives are beginning to break down. One social worker in Greater Manchester said a young person had stopped trusting the professionals working with him, another reported lack of engagement with education.

The delays have had a negative impact on children in all areas of their lives, including psychological, developmental, educational and social, said Maya Pritchard, youth casework manger at the South London Refugee Association. She said she was aware of discussions between members of the Refugee and Migrant Children’s Consortium that children have experienced significant delays to their asylum claims across the UK, including Leeds, Birmingham, Bristol and the south-west, and Scotland.

Neena Acharya, senior solicitor at Coram Children’s Legal Centre, said that waits of more than a year were not unusual for the children they represented. She said that delays for processing decisions for children processed through the national referral mechanism – when it is suspected that they are the victims of modern slavery – had also increased, with “Covid cited like a get-out-of-jail-free card”.

Denise McDowell, head of the GMIAU, called for urgent action to get children’s asylum claims moving again. “There are children in bedrooms pushed towards self-harm, suffering persistent insomnia, losing their hair, unable to concentrate and giving up on the future. It’s happening because our children are stuck, waiting while adults struggle to work out how to decide their asylum claims during a pandemic,” she said.

If the Home Office is unable to get the system moving, the “the only sensible option is to grant asylum now to all these children who have been waiting in limbo”, she added.

Afzal Khan, Labour MP for Manchester Gorton, said he had seen first-hand the devastating impact delays have on asylum seekers within his constituency as they try to rebuild their life in the city. Urging the Home Office to address the findings of the report, he said: “It is particularly heartbreaking to see children affected by these delays on top of the emotional toll of school closures and lockdowns.

“Children seeking asylum in the UK on their own are becoming victims of the Home Office’s incompetence, and the emotional impact of this is devastating. All children deserve a safe and happy childhood”.

Kevin Foster, minister for future borders and immigration, said the research showed the asylum system was “broken and in desperate need of reform, so those genuinely in need of support are welcomed through safe and legal routes”.

He said the government was working to fix the current backlog by increasing operational capacity and improving processes so decisions were dealt with efficiently. “We are also prioritising unaccompanied asylum seeking children and vulnerable applicants, so those in genuine need get support.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
NVIDIA Achieves Historic Milestone as First Company Valued at $4 Trillion
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Linda Yaccarino Steps Down as CEO of X After Two Years
US Imposes New Tariffs on Brazilian Exports Amid Political Tensions
Azerbaijan and Armenia are on the brink of a historic peace deal.
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Weinstein Victim’s Lawyer Says MeToo Movement Still Strong
U.S. Enacts Sweeping Tax and Spending Legislation Amid Trade Policy Shifts
Football Mourns as Diogo Jota and Brother André Silva Laid to Rest in Portugal
Labour Expected to Withdraw Support for Special Needs Funding Model
Leaked Audio Reveals Tory Aide Defending DEI Record
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
London Stock Exchange Faces Historic Low in Initial Public Offerings
A new online platform has emerged in the United Kingdom, specifically targeting Muslim men seeking virgin brides
Trump Celebrates Independence Day with B-2 Flyover and Signs Controversial Legislation
Boris Johnson Urges Conservatives to Ignore Farage
SNP Ordered to Update Single-Sex Space Guidance Within Days
Starmer Set to Reject Calls for Wealth Taxes
Stolen Century-Old Rolls-Royce Recovered After Hotel Theft
Macron Presses Starmer to Recognise Palestinian State
Labour Delayed Palestine Action Ban Over Riot Concerns
Swinney’s Tax Comments ‘Offensive to Scots’, Say Tories
High Street Retailers to Enforce Bans on Serial Shoplifters
Music Banned by Henry VIII to Be Performed After 500 Years
Steve Coogan Says Working Class Is Being ‘Ethnically Cleansed’
Home Office Admits Uncertainty Over Visa Overstayer Numbers
JD Vance Questions Mandelson Over Reform Party’s Rising Popularity
Macron to Receive Windsor Carriage Ride in Royal Gesture
Labour Accused of ‘Hammering’ Scots During First Year in Power
BBC Head of Music Stood Down Amid Bob Vylan Controversy
Corbyn Eyes Hard-Left Challenge to Starmer’s Leadership
London Tube Trains Suspended After Major Fire Erupts Nearby
Richard Kemp: I Felt Safer in Israel Under Attack Than in the UK
Cyclist Says Police Cited Human Rights Act for Riding No-Handed
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Musk Battles to Protect Tesla Amid Trump Policy Threats
Air France-KLM Acquires Majority Stake in Scandinavian Airlines
UK Educators Sound Alarm on Declining Child Literacy
Shein Fined €40 Million in France Over Misleading Discounts
Brazil’s Lula Visits Kirchner During Argentina House Arrest
Trump Scores Legislative Win as House Passes Tax Reform Bill
Keir Starmer Faces Criticism After Rocky First Year in Power
DJI Launches Heavy-Duty Coaxial Quadcopter with 80 kg Lift Capacity
U.S. Senate Approves Major Legislation Dubbed the 'Big Beautiful Bill'
Largest Healthcare Fraud Takedown in U.S. History Announced by DOJ
×