RMJ's response to irresponsible BBC coverage on fraudulent “immigration advisers”

This week’s BBC coverage about fraudulent so-called ‘immigration advisers’ has sparked understandable concern across the immigration and asylum sector. We are clear: anyone encouraging desperate migrants in the UK to submit fraudulent claims is acting unlawfully and should be held to account.

The BBC claimed they uncovered a shadow industry, but their investigation shows a few isolated examples. They chose to focus specifically on asylum claims where individuals from Pakistan and Bangladesh have relied on their sexual orientation, highlighting 3 instances where undercover reporters were seemingly advised on how to fabricate such claims. This is wrong and should not happen, but the findings need context.

The BBC highlighted 2023 Home Office statistics showing 578 Pakistani nationals applied for asylum based on sexuality, of which 376 would have been approved if the grant rate remained consistent. There is no suggestion either that all of those claims were fabricated. This is nowhere near enough to justify claims of an “industry” or to drive this level of media outrage and coverage. Applications face a high threshold of proof and are frequently refused. Crucially, the report omits evidence on how many of the claims linked to these alleged fraudsters were actually approved.

Dig deeper and we can see that in 2023, the government approved 16,828 asylum applications. The aforementioned 376 applications is therefore around 2% of total approvals.

The BBC did not speak with a single person who submitted a successful fraudulent asylum claim. Instead, they spoke with someone who had wasted thousands of pounds on such a claim, which was refused and who then returned to Pakistan. They cite the statements of an unregulated fraudster, who claims that she’s been submitting such claims successfully for 17 years as conclusive evidence. But the fraudster made this claim whilst encouraging the undercover reporter to pay her £7,500.00. She is hardly an impartial and reliable source.

For sure, Home Office asylum decision-making is of poor quality. It is therefore likely that some of the estimated 376 claims approved may have been fraudulent. But this is a tiny number compared to the number of people whose claims the Home Office wrongly refuses.

The most recent appeal statistics show a 36% success rate, from around 7,500 concluded appeals. This means the government wrongly refused 2,700 applications, a far greater number than the 376 Pakistani sexuality-based claims approved. There are also 140,000 asylum claims in the Tribunal backlog, with it likely based on current trends that the government wrongly refused close to 50,000 of these. That is a truly large-scale scandal.

The timing of these articles raise serious questions. It lands at the same moment as growing backlash from the public and within the Government itself to the ‘largest overhaul of the legal migration model in 50 years’. They also responded to this article by promising yet another change to our asylum laws next week. This starts to look less like neutral reporting and more like a government attempt to regain control of a narrative that is slipping.

The individuals featured in the BBC’s coverage are not representative of regulated immigration advisers. They are fraudsters. They exploit people who are unable to access proper legal advice. At RMJ, we see this harm first-hand. Many people come to us after losing thousands of pounds to unregulated actors, with damaged cases and have little trust left in the system.

If anything, these stories raise a more important issue that was left out of the reporting: why are people forced into the hands of fraudsters in the first place?

Successive government policies have made the immigration system more complex and harder to navigate, while cuts to legal aid have reduced access to regulated advice. People now spend at least a decade having to constantly renew visas before qualifying for settlement, and Labour’s “earned settlement model” will see people wait 2 or even 3 decades in the future. This created a carousal of people needing legal advice that far exceeds supply. Many people cannot access accredited support, creating a gap that fraudsters are able to exploit.

At the same time, the previous government’s rhetoric targeting “lefty lawyers” has had real consequences. Public attacks on the sector have driven experienced advisers out of the profession, further reducing capacity and leaving more people without reliable advice. This is not accidental. It is the result of political choices.

The BBC have a responsibility to handle this subject carefully and honestly, using facts and context rather than sensationalism.

Presenting a small number of cases as evidence of a wider “scam” risks fuelling harmful narratives about people seeking asylum. This comes at a time when anti-migrant sentiment is already dangerously high.

A response that targets people seeking protection or further restricts access to legal advice will only deepen the problem.