News Update – 3 July 2026
This week has brought a significant cluster of announcements from the Home Office, all tied to the Immigration and Asylum Bill introduced to Parliament on 30 June 2026. They signal the Government’s continued direction of travel towards a firmer, faster-moving immigration and asylum system, and advisors will want to be across each strand as the Bill progresses.
Under the new Bill, adults receiving asylum accommodation and subsistence support will, where they have access to sufficient funds, be required to repay a flat-rate contribution towards its cost. Payment is expected to be collected primarily through direct payments to the Home Office, with the tax and benefits systems also being explored as a possible mechanism. Migrants will need to clear the full amount before becoming eligible for settlement, and those who leave the UK will be required to settle any outstanding balance before they can return.
The Home Secretary will retain a discretionary power to adjust the level of the charge and the qualifying threshold, with the stated aim of protecting the taxpayer while avoiding destitution. The Government has indicated that the total contribution is likely to sit around £10,000 per person, against a setting of asylum accommodation and support costs of some £4 billion last year, with dispersal accommodation currently costing around £23.25 per person per night and hotel accommodation £144. Subsistence payments range from £9.95 to £49.18 per person per week.
The announcement also referenced 31 asylum hotel closures since April, alongside continued efforts to move asylum seekers into more basic accommodation, including former military sites. For advisors, this repayment obligation adds a new financial dimension to casework at the settlement stage and will need to be factored into advice given to clients with any capacity to pay.
The second announcement centres on enforcement and detention capacity. The Home Office has confirmed expansion projects at Haslar and Campsfield Immigration Removal Centres, which will more than triple combined capacity at those two sites from 290 to 1,000 beds, contributing to a 40% overall increase in detention capacity nationally. The Government has linked this expansion to a wider enforcement drive. Citing that returns and deportations are running at their highest level in nearly a decade, with close to 70,000 illegal migrants and foreign criminals removed since the Government took office, including around 10,000 foreign national offenders.
The Immigration Enforcement budget is set to double by 2028 to 2029, alongside a 60% increase in workforce numbers between 2024 to 2025 and 2026 to 2027. The announcement also confirmed that the forthcoming Immigration and Asylum Bill will look to reform human rights protections, including modern slavery legislation and Article 8 of the ECHR, with the stated aim of preventing their use to frustrate removals.
The third strand addresses the appeals system itself and is likely to be of most important considerations to immigration practitioners. The Government has confirmed plans for a new Independent Immigration Appeals Authority, intended to replace the current, heavily backlogged tribunal route with a single appeals framework. The scale of the problem is stark: average case clearance currently stands at 61 weeks, with more than 150,000 immigration and asylum appeals outstanding.
The new authority will be staffed by independently appointed adjudicators, likened by the Home Secretary to magistrates, drawn from a broadened pool of eligible applicants and able to scale capacity up or down according to demand. It will be empowered to prioritise cases in the public interest, including high-harm foreign offenders and Human Rights claims assessed as clearly without merit, and new rules will require all outstanding matters to be brought together in a single appeal rather than raised sequentially, closing off a route that has previously allowed further claims to be lodged shortly before removal.
The authority is expected to begin hearing appeals from late 2027, phased in over time. In the interim, sitting days in the First-tier Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber are due to rise by 19% compared with 2024/25, and the Government has pointed to a 72% fall in the initial decision backlog since June 2023, with 128,000 initial decisions made in the past year alone. Advisors should treat this as a signal that the current appeals landscape, familiar to most practitioners, is set for its most substantial restructuring in a generation and will want to begin considering how a single-route, prioritised system might affect case strategy and timing.
The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 (Commencement No. 4) Regulations 2026 have now confirmed that section 48 of the Act will come into force on 1 October 2026. This is the provision widening the right-to-work regime beyond the traditional direct-employment model to capture non-standard working arrangements such as agency staff, subcontractors, and gig-style engagements.
In practical terms, the compliance question shifts from simply identifying who sits on payroll to establishing who is directing, supplying, or benefiting from a person’s work, and which party is expected to hold the statutory excuse. A number of mechanics remain to be clarified through Home Office guidance, including which arrangements fall within scope, which party bears responsibility for carrying out and retaining the check, how liability will be divided between end-users, agencies, platforms, and intermediaries, what evidence will suffice to establish the statutory excuse, and whether Lists A and B of acceptable documents will be amended to reflect these broader working arrangements.
Until that guidance emerges, advisors working with employers, agencies, and intermediaries would do well to encourage clients to begin reviewing their contractor and agency onboarding processes now, checking for gaps in document retention, and keeping a close watch for revised guidance or updated document lists ahead of commencement.
As we wrap up the week’s developments, we are pleased to announce the success of our recent event, Preparing and Presenting the Perfect Appeal, held in person on 1 July.
The session brought together an engaged group of delegates who travelled in from London and from across the country to take part in what proved to be a genuinely interactive discussion. Delegates heard directly from Julian Phillips, recently retired Resident Judge of the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber), Mark Symes, Judge of the Upper Tribunal and First-tier Tribunal and tenant at Garden Court Chambers, and David Jones, also a tenant at Garden Court Chambers.
We are enormously grateful to all who made the effort to attend and contribute so thoughtfully and delighted to learn how valuable delegates found the session, particularly given the pace of change currently reshaping the appeals landscape. We look forward to welcoming many of you back at our future courses and conferences.
For a full list of our upcoming courses, visit here.
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For the full list of updates on media news SEE BELOW
News
Asylum seekers will pay towards costs of accommodation – Home Office
Asylum seekers who are able to pay back the cost of support and accommodation will now be required to, under new laws. The Immigration and Asylum Bill, which will be introduced to Parliament today, sets out new powers for the Home Office to recover costs from adults who have received asylum support such as subsistence or accommodation, provided they have access to sufficient funds. To read the full article, visit here
New independent appeals body to speed up removals – Home Office
A once-in-a-generation overhaul of asylum and immigration appeals will create a single route and end the merry-go-round of repeated appeals. This will lead to faster, fairer decisions, and speed up the removals of foreign criminals and failed asylum seekers. To read the full article, visit here
Mahmood: My reforms will save the asylum system for a generation – Home Office
The rollout of new safe and legal routes for refugees will begin in the autumn, the Home Secretary has announced, ahead of wider reforms to the immigration system to be delivered through the Immigration and Asylum Bill that was confirmed in the King’s Speech. To read the full article, visit here
Illegal immigrants and foreign criminals to be removed – Home Office
The projects at Haslar and Campsfield Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs) will contribute to a 40% increase in the UK’s detention capacity for those with no right to be here. These expansions will more than triple the cumulative capacity at these centres from 290 to 1,000 beds, with each additional detention space translating to more offenders and illegal migrants removed from our country. To read the full article, visit here
Increasing leave to remain timeframe for UK care workers ‘cruel’, say campaigners – The Guardian
The Government’s proposal would mean the standard qualifying period for permanent residence would increase from five to 10 years, but for “low-skilled or medium-skilled jobs”, which includes social care workers, the baseline would be 15 years. To view the full article, visit here
Charities condemn ‘arrogant’ plans to house asylum seekers at former military sites – The Guardian
Home Office plans to use three more former military sites to house thousands of asylum seekers have been condemned as “arrogant”, “costly” and “a political fix” by refugee charities and local stakeholders. To view the full article, visit here
More than 300 arrests in organised immigration crime crackdown – BBC News
More than 300 people have been arrested across the UK, including 57 migrants who had crossed the Channel by boat, as part of a police crackdown on illegal trade and organised immigration crime. The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said more than £1m cash was seized during the five-day operation between June 15 and June 20. To view the full article, visit here
People smuggler convicted in France found by BBC living in UK and seeking asylum – BBC News
A convicted people smuggler, once described as “the godfather” of the French migrant camps, is living in Leicestershire and believed to be seeking asylum while working illegally, a BBC investigation can reveal. Prosecutors said the Iraqi Kurd, aged 36 at the time, had earned up to £100,000 a week for moving illegal immigrants across the Channel. To view the full article, visit here
Case Law
Alibiari, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2026] EWHC 1623 (Admin)
This judicial review challenged version 6 of the Secretary of State’s “Nationality: good character requirement” policy. The Plaintiff, a refugee who entered the UK concealed in a lorry in 2016, had his naturalisation application refused on the basis that illegal entrants making dangerous journeys would normally be denied citizenship. He challenged the lawfulness of the policy itself (not his individual refusal) on three grounds. The court dismissed the claim in full, finding version 6 lawful, non-discriminatory, and compliant with the section 149 equality duty. To view the full decision, visit here
A1 v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2026] EWCA Civ 807
The Court of Appeal allowed the Home Secretary’s appeal against a decision restoring refugee status to A1, a Syrian national convicted in 2017 of terrorism-related offences for online material supporting Daesh. His refugee status had been revoked under section 72 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, and lower tribunals found he remained a danger to the community. The Court found the First-tier Tribunal’s reasoning inconsistent, remitting the case for further findings on whether A1 still poses a danger. To view the full decision, visit here
Home Office Guidance and Policy Updates
The Immigration (Restrictions on Employment and Residential Accommodation) (Prescribed Requirements and Codes of Practice) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 has been published on 1st July 2026. To view the updated rules, visit here
Transparency data: Small boat activity in the English Channel has been updated on 1st July 2026. To view the updated data, visit here
Immigration Rules Appendix Global Talent have been updated on 1st July 2026. To view the updated rules, visit here
Digital right to work and rent checks for British and Irish citizens: equality impact assessment, has been published on 30th June 2026. To view the assessment, visit here
The right to work: equality impact assessment has been published on 30th June 2026. To view the assessment, visit here
Guidance: Draft code of practice on preventing illegal working: Right to Work Scheme for employers has been updated on 30th June 2026. To view the updated Guidance, visit here
Guidance: Right to rent immigration checks: landlords’ code of practice has been updated on 30th June 2026. To view the updated Guidance, visit here
Consultation outcome: Extending the Right to Work Scheme has been published on 30th June 2026. To view the updated Guidance, visit here
Research and analysis: Estimated lifetime net fiscal impact of Article 8 main applicants has been published on 26th June 2026. To view the analysis, visit here
Guidance: Reception and induction checklist and supplementary guidance has been updated on 26th June 2026. To view the Guidance, visit here
Guidance: Detention and escorting – safeguarding children has been updated on 26th June 2026. To view the Guidance, visit here
Guidance: Mobile phones and cameras in immigration removal centres has been updated on 26th June 2026. To view the Guidance, visit here
Guidance: Handling complaints in immigration removal centres has been updated on 26th June 2026. To view the Guidance, visit here
Guidance: Visitors and visiting procedures for detained individuals has been published on 26th June 2026. To view the Guidance, visit here
The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 (Commencement No. 4) Regulations 2026 has been published on 24th June 2026. To view the Bill, visit here
Guidance: Electronic monitoring devices: installation and removal has been updated on 25th June 2026. To view the Guidance, visit here
Policy paper: Response to a report on an inspection of administrative reviews has been published on 25th June 2026. To view the response, visit here
Policy paper: Response to an inspection of asylum casework – June to December 2025 has been published on 25th June 2026. To view the response, visit here
Policy paper: Response to an inspection of Border Force refusals and cancellations of permission to enter the UK has been published on 25th June 2026. To view the response, visit here
Policy paper: Response to an inspection of management of contact with migrants has been updated on published on 25th June 2026. To view the response, visit here
Written by Shareen Khan- Legal Content Writer, HJT Training
Disclaimer: This blog post is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Immigration advisors should consult the full decisions and official policy documents when advising clients on specific cases.