Changes to the UK asylum system: What we know so far

18^th November 2025 

In an unprecedented assault on refugee rights, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced a new set of hostile policy changes,  that will significantly undermine the security and wellbeing of people seeking safety in the UK. The changes are written in a government paper called “Restoring Order and Control“. This blog sets out what we know so far and what we think. 

These measures target people seeking protection and represent a direct attack on their fundamental rights. We understand that many of you may have seen or heard the news and are now feeling uncertain or afraid about what these changes could mean for you, your families, or the people you support. At a time when the rhetoric about migration is becoming increasingly hostile and divisive, please remember that you are part of a community that stands with you. 

This blog covers what we know so far about:  

• Changes to refugee status 

• Removals from the UK 

• Changes to asylum support 

• Changes to asylum appeals 

• Changes to human rights protections 

• New safe route to the UK 

At the moment, there is still a lot we don’t know: 

• We don’t know when any of the proposed changes will come into force.  

• We don’t know who is affected: whether the changes to refugee leave will apply only to people who have not yet arrived in the UK, or whether it may apply to people who are in the UK now waiting for a decision, or who have been granted refugee status. 

• We don’t know how the changes will be applied to children, either unaccompanied or in families.  

• We don’t know how workable these policies will be, and we don’t know if they will all come into force. Some will be challenged in court, and others will have to pass through Parliament as new laws, where they may be changed or amended. 

We will keep sharing what we know on our website and social media. Please sign up to our newsletter or follow us on Instagram, Bluesky, and LinkedIn to stay up to date.   

Changes to refugee status 

Currently: 
People recognised by the UK as being at risk of persecution in their home country are granted five years of refugee status – guaranteed protection. At the end of this period, they can apply for permanent status (indefinite leave to remain), giving them stability and the ability to rebuild their lives. 

Proposed changes:  

• The Home Secretary plans to replace this system with a new “core protection status”. This will mean people are given leave to remain for two and a half years at a time and required to reapply at the end of each period. Their situation would be reviewed each time to decide whether protection is still needed, and refugee status could be revoked if their home country is judged to be “safe.”  

• Refugees will now have to wait 20 years – renewing this “core protection” status eight times -before they can apply for indefinite leave to remain, instead of the current five.  

• The government plans to introduce a new in-country “Protection Work and Study” route. Under this system, people who have been granted protection will be able to apply to move onto this route if they secure a job or begin study at a certain level and pay a fee, and this will allow them to “earn” settlement more quickly. However, the full details of how this will work have not yet been set out. 

• Refugees will be subject to criteria on “earned settlement”. Details of this policy have not yet been published and there will be a consultation on it before the end of 2025, but it will mean people have to demonstrate some form of “contribution” to society – which may be financial, or based on other contributions like volunteering – before being eligible for indefinite leave to remain. 

• There will be no “automatic” right to refugee family reunion under “core protection”. People who move onto the “Protection Work and Study” route may become eligible to sponsor family members to join them in the UK, but this is likely to involve minimum income and other requirements. 

• Refugees will continue to have access to public funds, but the government plans to consult in 2026 on introducing criteria that need to be met to access benefits. They say they will “prioritise access for those who are making an economic contribution to the UK”. 

Impact:  
Though it has been suggested that this will only affect people who have not yet arrived in the UK, we don’t know for sure and the government’s policy document does not confirm this.  

When this change comes in, for people newly granted protection status in the UK, permanent status will be a very long way off. They will face 20 years of short grants of leave, each renewal dependent on the government’s assessment of whether their country of origin is still unsafe – unless they meet as-yet undefined criteria to move onto another route. Even then they will be subject to so-called “earned settlement”, yet more hoops to jump through. 

We are deeply worried about what this will mean for individuals and families who need stability to rebuild their lives, and for community safety and resilience. We have seen repeatedly that when people feel secure, they get involved locally, build relationships, and flourish in their lives. Removing that stability risks isolating people rather than helping them. It is hard to see how anyone can plan for the future while repeatedly facing the threat of removal. 

These proposals move the UK further away from offering genuine refuge and risk repeating the same mistakes made by previous governments. Safety should not be conditional. 

Removals from the UK 

The government want to increase removals of people who do not have status in the UK. They will not return people to countries deemed to be unsafe. But for people who do not continue to meet the government’s standards for continued refugee status, they may face enforced removal from the UK, even if they have been here for a long time. Specifically, the government have mentioned the possibility of enforcing returns to Syria. 

Currently, children are not “prioritised” for removal from the UK and cannot be detained in law. But now the government also want to remove people who have arrived in the UK with children. They say they are exploring measures for the enforced removal of families, including children. In order to remove children, they will have to detain them, something that we and many others have fought against in the past and will always oppose. 

Changes to asylum support 

Currently: 
The UK Home Office has a legal duty to provide accommodation and essential living support to people seeking asylum who are, or are likely to become, destitute. This support includes housing and a weekly allowance.  

People who arrive in the UK seeking safety are not allowed to work until their asylum claim has been processed. If they have been waiting 12 months, they can apply for permission to work, but only for a certain list of jobs requiring specific qualifications. People who claim asylum who are already on a visa that allows them to work can continue working while their claim is assessed, if that visa is not cancelled. 

Already, people applying for asylum support must prove that they would be destitute without it. They do not automatically receive Home Office support, and if people can support themselves they are expected to do so. For this reason, not everyone in the asylum system is receiving asylum support or accommodated by the Home Office. 

Proposed changes: 

• The government has announced plans to revoke their statutory duty to provide asylum support, making it instead a discretionary power to offer support.  

• They also plan to remove support for people who have the right to work while their claim is being processed.  

• In addition, the government plans to make it easier to withdraw support for anyone who breaks the law, fails to follow the conditions of their support, fails to follow removal directions, or works illegally. 

• The government say that people who “can” contribute to their support will be expected to do so. This is the part of their plans that may lead to jewellery or other valuables being seized from people. 

Impact:  
Destitution has long been weaponised as a tool of immigration control. Removing asylum support punishes people for circumstances beyond their control and leaves them with no safety net, forcing many into exploitation and destitution. Some of these announcements describe policies that already exist, so the full consequences will depend on how new changes are implemented.  

If the government plans to remove support from families with children, this will risk making children homeless and destitute. This will also place a particular burden on local authorities who have a duty to support those children.  

Changes to asylum appeals 

Currently: 
Many initial asylum decisions are poorly made and are overturned on appeal. At GMIAU we help people appeal asylum decisions when we know the Home Office has made the wrong decision. Because so many appeals have to be made, there is a backlog of asylum appeals in the courts, leaving people in limbo for years. 

Proposed changes:  
The government has said that it will “overhaul” the appeals process. They will introduce a new appeals body, although there is already an existing Tribunal for immigration appeals. People will be restricted to one appeal. There are no further details yet about what this will look like. 

The government has also said they plan to “fast track” cases they deem to have little chance of success or the cases of people with criminal convictions. 

Impact:  
These changes will make the system more complicated and even harder to navigate than it is already, by introducing a second appeal body for asylum decisions. It may make it harder to appeal asylum decisions, and some people may receive negative decisions sooner, especially if they have previous criminal convictions. However, there is little detail on how the new process will work or how the government will decide which cases have less chance of success.  

Changes to human rights protections 

Currently: 
Everyone in the UK has human rights, which are recognised by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). When it would breach someone’s human rights to remove them from the UK, this is sometimes treated as a reason not to remove them. People with proven roots in the UK, whose future or family is here, may also be able to get limited leave to remain in the UK on the basis of their human rights. Often, these decisions are made in the courts. People can also receive extra protections if the government accepts that they are victims of modern slavery. It may take time for people to understand they have been a victim of modern slavery and may take even longer to feel able to come forward about this.   

Proposed changes: 
The government want to make it harder for people to stay in the country based on human rights. To do this they say they will “reinterpret” the rights in the ECHR rather than changing the rights themselves.  

• Specifically, they will reinterpret Article 3, which protects people from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment, to “support the deportation of dangerous criminals”, and Article 8, which guarantees the right to family and private life, to make it more restrictive.  

• They also plan to change how and when people can make further applications based on asylum or human rights. 

• They plan to “overhaul” the Modern Slavery Act. They plan to say that people must come forward as victims of modern slavery as soon as they arrive in the UK, and that they may not get protection if they come forward at a later time. 

Impact: 
This change is about how different rights are interpreted and what they mean for individuals who are asking the government to look at their human rights when making a decision about their case. It is hard to say what this will look like in practice and it is likely to be challenged in court. 

New Safe Route to the UK  

Currently:  
There are currently no safe and legal routes to claim asylum in the UK, meaning people are forced into taking dangerous journeys and risking their lives to reach safety. Safe and legal routes for all people seeking safety is something that we as an organisation have been actively campaigning for, alongside many others, for a very long time.  

Proposed changes: 

• The government will introduce new safe and legal routes to the UK to reduce the number of dangerous journeys that people are taking to reach the UK. 

• This will be under a “community sponsorship” model, similar to the “Homes for Ukraine” scheme, under which people in the UK hosted Ukrainians fleeing war.  

• There will be an annual cap on the number of people allowed to use this route, and the numbers will be based on the capacity of local communities. The government has not shared what the annual cap will be. To be on the route, individuals will need to be identified by referral partners such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). 

• They will also introduce a capped route for refugee and displaced students to study in the UK, and a capped route for skilled refugees and displaced people to come to the UK for work, building on the already existing Displaced Talent Mobility Pilot, launched in 2021 under the previous government.  

• People arriving on these reformed resettlement routes are likely to be placed on a 10 year route to settlement and subject to “earned settlement” criteria.  

Impact:  
We welcome the introduction of new ways for people to reach the UK safely. But for safe routes to have the desired effect, of reducing dangerous journeys to the UK, they need to represent a meaningful alternative and be accessible to the people who need them. Limited routes, capped in number and potentially restricted to specific nationalities, are not up to the scale of the task. Without far bolder action on safe routes, we will continue to see people’s lives put in danger.  

What we think 

People seeking our protection are looking for what any one of us would: safety, a roof over their heads, a place to call home, and the opportunity to rebuild their life with their family. To do this, they need safe routes so that they don’t need to risk their lives to get here. They need good, fast asylum decisions, with legal representation, and they need a meaningful appeals process if things go wrong. Their human rights should always be protected. Adults and children should be supported to feel at home and flourish here, whether through school, work, or connections with their communities. To do that, they need to be able to feel settled and know that they will be able to call the UK their permanent home. 

We will never stop fighting for people to get the support and protection they need, or accept anything less. We already know that long routes to settlement produce only insecurity and hardship. We know that the majority of us do not want to be a country who detains children, leaves families destitute, or dismantles human rights protections. We have seen these legislative and rhetorical attacks on our communities before and we know that they can exhaust and demoralise us – but that we cannot give up.  

Please share the information we have so far with anyone who is trying to understand what the government’s announcements may mean for them. We will update with more information as we get it, as well as with opportunities to get involved with challenging these changes.