Home Secretary pushed to end jobs for migrants scheme by former cabinet ministers

Migrants are brought ashore after being picked up in the English Channel by a Border Force vessel on January 17 – Dan Kitwood/Getty

Home Secretary James Cleverly will face demands on Monday to scrap the right of asylum seekers, including Channel migrants, to work.

Two former Cabinet ministers and the New Conservatives group of MPs are calling for an end to the scheme under which asylum seekers can work in shortage occupation sectors including care, construction and agriculture if they have been waiting for their claims to be processed for more than a year.

They say it is providing a “pull factor” to encourage migrants to come to the UK, while also undercutting British workers as they are paid 80 per cent of the going rate.

It follows the disclosure by The Telegraph on Saturday that nearly 16,000 asylum seekers, including those who crossed the Channel in small boats, have been allowed to work in a single year, according to data obtained under Freedom of Information (FOI) laws.

David Davis, a former Brexit secretary and a former shadow home secretary, said: “It converts illegal migration – the worst sort of migration – into the second worst, which is migration that undercuts the pay of workers.

“It acts as an incentive for people to come here illegally. It’s clear that at least some of the individuals will send money home. That is a strong a telegraph for others to do the same as anything that I can think of.”

Home Secretary James Cleverly and the Prime Minister are under pressure to scrap the right for asylum seekers to work – Stefan Rousseau/PA

Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick said he believed the policy was wrong.

“I don’t agree that asylum seekers should work,” he said.

“There is a very long-standing policy that dates back to the Labour government in 2005 to allow people who’ve been here for years to work in certain occupations where there are supposedly shortages, but it just creates a pull factor to the UK.

“And almost everyone who comes here is either an economic migrant or a sort of asylum shopper, because they’re coming from safe countries like France and choosing to come to the UK because they think life is better here or a softer touch. And so I don’t think that’s the right approach.”

The New Conservatives group of about 20 MPs is writing to Mr Cleverly on Monday asking how the Home Office can justify such a “pull factor” for illegal migration and whether asylum seekers taking up jobs affects the likelihood of their asylum claim being successful.

“We cannot solve the significant problems associated with irregular migration unless we deter people from crossing to the UK illegally , and this is the opposite of a deterrent,” said Miriam Cates, co-chair of the group.

The Freedom of Information data show that 19,231 migrants applied for work permits in 2022 and 15,706 applications were granted. That represented nearly one-third of all the 51,000 asylum seekers in the one-year backlog of claims in 2022. Fewer than 5,000 were waiting more than a year in 2016.

The scheme allowing asylum seekers to take jobs after a year is a legacy of an EU law from 2005, which reversed a measure introduced by Sir Tony Blair in 2002 barring illegal migrants from any right to work.

The then-Labour leader instituted the crackdown to tackle a migration crisis similar to that being faced by the current Government.

Some ministers and immigration advisers have argued that the Government should consider going further in the opposite direction and follow some other European countries that allow asylum seekers to work after six months.

They have cited the potential economic benefits in boosting growth and savings from migrants no longer receiving state benefits and free accommodation and instead paying income tax on their earnings.

Peter Walsh, a senior researcher with the Migration Observatory at Oxford University, said he was surprised at the numbers granted, but suggested it could be linked to the widening of the shortage occupation list to include care workers, where there was acute demand for staff.

He said there were economic benefits in that it would reduce the cost of accommodation and asylum support as well as generating money for the Exchequer via taxes. “There are psychological positives because it is not very good for people to be out of the labour market,” he said.

“The longer people are out of the labour market, the harder it is for them to get back into the labour market. There is also another practical advantage that if you allow people to work legally, they are less likely to work illegally. It is potentially protecting against that.”

Government sources claimed there was no evidence that the prospect of working in a shortage occupation after a year in the UK was a “pull factor”.

They said in the past year the Government had cleared the “legacy” backlog of asylum cases pre-dating June 2022, apart from 4,500 “complex” applications, which would have reduced the number eligible to work.

A Home Office source also noted that the scheme had been introduced under Labour, but tightened by the coalition government, under Lord Cameron, to limit it to shortage occupations.

A Home Office spokesperson said:“Allowing individuals who have an asylum claim outstanding for more than a year to apply for jobs limited to the Shortage Occupation List, strikes the balance between protecting taxpayer money and ensuring people are not incentivised to come to the UK illegally.

“Once employed the individual may have their taxpayer support withdrawn, whilst boosting the economy by addressing skills shortages.”

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