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Single men seeking asylum have been housed in RAF Wethersfield site since 12 July 2023. The maximum length of stay for those accommodated on site is nine months, “except where the Secretary of State is unable to find suitable onward dispersed accommodation despite reasonable efforts to do so”. In previous reports shared with the Home Office, NGOs working in Wethersfield have highlighted significant growing concerns around the harm being caused to those held there. One of the concerns raised was the lack of information as to what was happening with the men’s asylum claims and what move-on system was in place. Confusion in part resulted from uncertainties surrounding the implementation of the Illegal Migration Act 2023 and the Rwanda removals scheme. After the laying of a Statutory Instrument ending the retrospective nature of Illegal Migration Act (IMA) provisions in July 2024, the Home Office started decision making on asylum claims made after March 2023, with around 7,000 interviews being undertaken a week. This includes those made by men in Wethersfield.

It remains our view that RAF Wethersfield is fundamentally unsuitable as asylum accommodation and should be closed as a matter of urgency. While it remains open, NGOs are extremely concerned about access to justice in a site widely recognised as remote; situated in a legal advice desert; and lacking in the infrastructure required to facilitate meaningful access to legal advice. Our experience is that there are significant problems onsite, including no information regarding law firms with capacity provided; no financial or logistical support provided for men to travel to legal appointments; insufficient private spaces or access to computer equipment or Wi-Fi to facilitate access to legal advice and no privacy - men are forced to disclose private matters in an environment that they are likely to be overheard. Men are attending interviews having never spoken to a lawyer or received any legal advice.

This joint briefing with Asylum Aid, Asylum Matters, Care 4 Calais, Doctors of the World, Humans for Rights Network and the Immigration Law Practitioners Association examines the existing barriers to accessing quality legal advice in Wethersfield and makes a number of practical recommendations. There is a need to react to this urgently in the short term whilst also thinking about how to address the broader systemic problems that prevent people seeking protection from accessing justice.

Click on the arrow below to read the full briefing.