Statement | Our response to the introduction of the new Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill Bill

On January 30th the Labour Government published its Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill – the fourth major piece of immigration legislation brought in by successive Governments in just three years. We’ll be working with our members and partners to scrutinise the Bill in the coming weeks, to understand and highlight its potential impacts on our network and the people our members support, and to campaign for amendments to ensure that the Bill doesn’t push people into homelessness and destitution. 

Bridget Young, NACCOM’s Director, shared some initial reflections; 

“Whilst we welcome some of the steps taken by the Government to improve the asylum system, including the interim extension of the move-on period for refugees, the scrapping of the cruel and unworkable Rwanda plan, and overturning the pause on processing asylum claims, the new Bill falls far short of the radical reform needed to create a fair, just, and humane asylum system.” 

“By continuing to focus too extensively on deterrence and enforcement, the Government has missed a crucial opportunity to tackle the deep-rooted systemic issues that are causing real harm to refugees and migrants. Until these are meaningfully addressed, the asylum system will continue to push people into trauma and destitution, and drive division and hostility towards migrants in our communities, as we saw recently during the racist violence of 2024.” 

“The voluntary sector plays a critical role in any work to reform the broken, chaotic asylum system, but after successive pieces of unworkable, punitive immigration legislation, many frontline services, including our members and Local Authorities, are already overwhelmed due to increased need in refugee and migrant communities. This is simply not sustainable, and we urge the Government to be led by experts, including those with lived experience, and evidence as the Bill is debated.” 

“We stand ready to support meaningful and lasting reform—but only if it moves beyond ineffective, short-term fixes towards a compassionate and effective system.”