The Home Office is paying staff bonuses of £75 for every extra asylum claim decision they make above their monthly target in a big push to bring down the backlog.
Civil servants can earn up to £350 a month extra by increasing the amount of cases they approve or reject, sources familiar with the bonus scheme told The i Paper.
Labour, which introduced the scheme in June, was accused of “panic” and “flailing around” for solutions to the small boats crisis and the rise in the number of asylum seekers stuck in hotels.
There are fears the bonus incentive could lead to more poor asylum decisions being made, with decision makers “rushing” through the claims to make more money, refugee charities and experts warned.
They are also worried it could add pressure to the appeal courts if some people are refused asylum without proper care taken over their claim.
The Home Office said bonuses for staff were based on the “consistent delivery of high-quality work”, and that “all asylum decisions are subject to stringent quality checks”.
Labour remains under significant pressure over asylum issues, with voter attitudes to immigration hardening and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage announcing plans for mass deportations to end illegal migration and use of taxpayer-funded hotels.
A record 111,000 asylum claims were made in the year to June, with the number of people arriving via the English Channel on small boats increasing by a third to 43,000 during the period.
However, Labour has had some success in working through cases more quickly – bringing the backlog in outstanding claims down from 134,000 to 91,000 during its first year in office.
The temporary bonus scheme for Home Office staff was launched in June and will be reviewed in September, The i Paper understands.
A typical target for a civil servant working on asylum cases is to make 12 decisions a month, though it depends on the individual.
Staff get £50 for the first extra decision they make above their target, then £75 for each extra decision, up to a maximum £350 a month.
A source at the Home Office said the bonus scheme was part of a push to further bring down outstanding cases because there was “massive political pressure to reduce the backlog”.
However, they said there was unease over the possibility of the scheme leading to rushed decisions.
“The danger is that it affects the quality of difficult decisions, because you’re incentivising people to make decisions as quickly as possible,” said the source.
Use of hotels to house asylum seekers has sparked a wave of protests (Photo by Martin Pope/Getty)Concerns about the quality of decision making was also expressed by Lucy Moreton, a senior official at the Immigration Service Union, which represents asylum claim processing staff.
“I wouldn’t want to suggest poor decisions would be made deliberately.
“But there is a logical risk that decisions as a whole – granting and refusing – are taken without as much time as they need… the more pressure you are under to do something quickly, the quality of the decision making may fall.”
Charities said pushing through refusals more quickly could lead to more appeals and extra pressure on the tribunal courts.
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, feared speed could be prioritised over the “quality of decision-making” due to bonuses, creating a “second backlog in the appeals system.”
Bonus scheme is ‘panic move’
The Shadow Home Secretary said a “crude” bonus scheme for asylum case work was “pure panic that risks fuelling more bad decisions, more appeals, and even more chaos” following The i Paper’s revelation.
Chris Philp said: “This is the consequence of Labour’s weakness – chaos at the border, gimmicks at the Home Office, and taxpayers footing the bill.”
The bonus scheme was also described as “a panic move” from Labour by Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch think tank, which is pushing for lower immigration levels.
“It’s appalling that people should have to be paid extra to do their job. It reflects the fact that the Government is clearly struggling and flailing around on this issue.
“It’s human nature to want to achieve that bonus,” added Mehmet. “There is the potential to focus more on speed than quality of decision and for that to lead to poor decisions.”
He also said speeding up the granting of asylum claims would do nothing to address the increase in small boat arrivals seen this year. “There is a need for a clear deterrent, something like offshore processing, to deter so many people coming.”
The number of migrants crossing the English Channel has increased in 2025 (Photo: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty)Fears for extra pressure on appeals system
There are around 51,000 asylum appeals currently waiting to be heard.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said the Government will address the “completely unacceptable” delays with a fast-tracked appeals system, which will see legally qualified independent “adjudicators” hear appeals in place of judges.
Cooper’s scheme will prioritise those in accommodation such as hotels, which will put people who have arrived on small boats at the front of the queue for hearings.
Marley Morris, associate director for migration at the IPPR think tank, said the bonus scheme was “broadly speaking sensible” as a way of reducing the backlog but shared concerns about the quality of the decision-making.
He warned it could lead to more “time-consuming” appeals, which would see more people stuck in hotels for longer periods.
Fran Heathcote, general secretary of the PCS union, which represents some Home Office staff, said the scheme “threatens the integrity of the decision-making process”, adding: “Each case needs care and consideration, and rushing the process undermines this.”
She also warned the scheme could exploit “hard-working low-paid staff with cash incentives to work unpaid extra hours”.
The i Paper understands that it is not an overtime scheme, and that pro-rata, equivalent payments are also available to part-time staff doing fewer hours.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Rewards or bonuses for our staff are based on the consistent delivery of high-quality work and professional behaviour, whether in asylum processing or any other area of Home Office work.”
They added: “All asylum decisions are subject to stringent quality checks, with individual performance targets agreed with managers and reviewed regularly to ensure the high standards expected are consistently met.”
Hence then, the article about home office pays 75 per case bonuses to rush through asylum claims was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Home Office pays £75-per-case bonuses to ‘rush through’ asylum claims )
Also on site :
- Who Is High Voltage on ‘The Masked Singer’? The Electric Clues Point One Way
- Mira Murati’s startup, Thinking Machines Lab, is losing two of its co-founders to OpenAI
- Gaza plan phase two: US to discuss Hamas disarmament, Israeli withdrawal