In response to the Centre for Social Justice’s report “Asylum Matters” published today, Donna Covey, Chief Executive of the Refugee Council said:

“We welcome this report, which makes an important contribution to the asylum debate. It rightly points out that the fundamental problem with the system as it stands is that decision-making is poor, and not enough resources are put into getting them right first time.

“We have been calling for the kind of radical overhaul outlined in the report for many years. It is time now to end this inhumane, appalling practice of forcing asylum seekers into destitution, and regain public confidence in the asylum process by having a system everyone can trust and that works.

“In the meantime, at the very least those asylum seekers who have been left in limbo for so long should be allowed to work and support themselves until their claim is dealt with properly and they are given status or can return home.”

Ends