London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Home Office revives plan to deport non-UK rough sleepers

Home Office revives plan to deport non-UK rough sleepers

Priti Patel’s ministry has quietly relaunched a covert programme exposed in 2019 by the Observer

The Home Office has quietly relaunched a controversial programme that uses councils and homelessness charities to obtain personal data that could lead to the deportation of non-UK rough sleepers.

Two charities and six councils have signed up to the scheme since it was relaunched six months ago, according to documents obtained by Liberty Investigates, a journalism unit of the human rights organisation Liberty.

When one charity was approached over its participation, it immediately deregistered from the programme, saying it wanted to avoid putting rough sleepers at risk.

The disclosure follows last week’s widely derided overhaul of the asylum system by the home secretary, Priti Patel. Campaigners fear this could dramatically increase the number of homeless foreign nationals by leaving future asylum seekers destitute without the right to settle permanently, work or claim benefits.

The Rough Sleeping Support Service (RSSS) was trialled by the Home Office from 2018 until the Observer exposed it as part of a covert strategy to deport rough sleepers after acquiring personal data without their consent.

Following a challenge by the Public Interest Law Centre, the Home Office amended the RSSS last September and relaunched it with a new requirement for charities and councils to obtain what it calls “fully informed consent”.

However, the Home Office would not reveal how many – if any – rough sleepers have since been deported under what critics say is an attempt to embroil charities in the government’s “hostile environment” policy.

Part of the scheme’s relaunch involves asking signatory organisations to sign up to a 19-page user agreement, which confirms deportation as one of four possible outcomes, telling them to give rough sleepers the opportunity to read it before signing a consent form.

The form states that “the service is not intended to identify or locate immigration offenders”, but there is a “possibility that you may be required to leave the UK” if the individual does not have lawful basis to remain.

Experts said consent obtained in this way was questionable, given the vulnerability of rough sleepers, language barriers, and the power dynamic between client and caseworker.

Barrister Julianne Morrison, who specialises in data protection, said: “The person giving them this form is not someone who has Home Office or Border Force written on their tabard. It is somebody who they’ve turned to for help.”

She added: “It’s very difficult to see how anyone can be sure that those in such a vulnerable situation, and in a situation of obvious power imbalance vis-à-vis the Home Office, are giving proper GDPR-compliant consent.”

Benjamin Morgan, Public Interest Law Centre’s EU homelessness coordinator, said: “In our casework experience, rough sleepers – especially those who do not speak fluent English – end up being asked to sign all sorts of documents without necessarily understanding the implications of what they are doing.”

The RSSS is touted by the Home Office as an express service to access information to help undocumented rough sleepers establish their immigration status and in turn help them access public funds.

When London-based charity Single Homeless Project (SHP) backed out of the scheme after being approached by Liberty Investigates, it said it had joined only because of problems obtaining paperwork to help four people who had been placed in a hotel during the pandemic, and were now faced with the premises closing down.

Liz Rutherfoord, chief executive, said an SHP team had used the RSSS in good faith, but that the charity would not rejoin without further investigation of the risks to the future of those they were attempting to help.

“We take our responsibility to safeguard our clients and their welfare very seriously and will not support any scheme that puts their futures at risk,” said Rutherfoord.

The second charity that signed up to the scheme, Camden Routes off the Streets, run by charity Change Grow Live, did not respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for Camden council, which commissions the charity to run a multi-agency rough sleeping support hub, said it had not referred anyone to the RSSS and was seeking clarity on the “boundaries and safeguards in place”.

A spokesperson for Reigate and Banstead borough council, one of the local authorities that have signed up to the scheme, said it referred one person but received no response.

A Home Office spokesperson said the RSSS did “not routinely” share an individual’s status for potential immigration action and was instead designed to establish if the rough sleeper had access to public funds.

“The purpose is to resolve their status and identify any additional support they may need.”

They added: “Charities and local authorities involved in the service should make the individual aware of the purpose of the service and get their consent to be referred.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×