Asylum agency 'failures' pile up

The Fast and Fair? report by the parliamentary ombudsman found that, in the first nine months of 2009-10, the ombudsman received 478 complaints about the agency and reported on 33 investigations - of which 97 per cent were upheld in full or in part.

The report included 11 case studies that reflected the large number and wide range of complaints referred to the ombudsman by MPs.

The cases involved applications for asylum, as well as the agency's core immigration and nationality work and applications for residence cards, which confirm rights of residence under European law.

In the case of Mr P, a Jamaican man who was granted indefinite leave to remain in Britain in 1990, it took three and a half years for the agency to provide him with a No Time Limit stamp confirming his right to stay in Britain for his new 2004 Jamaican passport.

During this time, Mr P was threatened with deportation and missed the funerals of his father and sister.

And he was unable to visit his ill mother as he was afraid he would not be allowed back into the country.

Ombudsman Ann Abraham said: "We have seen progress, but the agency still has a long way to go on its journey to being able to demonstrate to us that it is meeting the ombudsman's principles of good administration, principles of good complaint handling and principles for remedy."

End Child Detention Now spokeswoman Clare Sambrook told the Star: "This exposes the government lie that families banged up in detention centres are people whose asylum claims have been properly heard and rejected."