NAM Monitoring
Asylum seekers’ experiences of the New Asylum Model: Findings from a survey with clients at Refugee Council One Stop Services [January 2008]
In order to monitor the progress of the New Asylum Model the Refugee Council conducted a snap shot of the experiences of asylum seekers whose claims were being decided under the new system which became fully operational on 5th March 2007. We devised a questionnaire, which was completed by clients on a one to one basis, with assistance where necessary from Refugee Council staff.
There are some good features within the NAM and we anticipate that the system should improve as Case Owners and others become familiar with the new processes and procedures.
However our questionnaires also identified some areas of general concern in relation to
- Case Ownership, where people were not always able to name their Case Owner and some had trouble contacting them
- Speed of processing of cases: 25% of respondents said that did not feel they had had adequate time to get information to present their case, and did not feel they had had an adequate hearing.
- Access to legal advice: 29% of respondents only saw their legal representative after their substantive interview rather than before.
- Reporting requirements: Some requirements appeared onerous in terms of both cost and time and our snap shot suggests they should be made more user-friendly.
- Child care provision: There is a need for child care provision to enable people to concentrate on the process of being interviewed.
Published in January 2008
