Civil servants working from home ‘could miss fraudulent asylum claims’, an expert has warned.
Home Office staff, who oversee asylum seeker claims and cases of foreign national offenders, are permitted to work three out of five days a week from home.
And the majority of their interviews for asylum bids are done remotely via video conference in lieu of in person interviews at the department’s base.
The Home Office argued their flexibility regarding office working has helped manage the substantial number of claims, with lawyers, caseworkers, interpreters and support staff able to take part from varying locations.
A job description for a caseworker role, details how staff would be a part of a ‘supportive team’, who ‘conduct asylum interviews’ and follow ‘processes to make the most appropriate decisions on asylum cases.
‘You will consider legislation and case law and produce letters on behalf of the Home Secretary to outline reasons for your decisions,’ it added.
However, former directer general of Border Force, Tony Smith, has raised concerns that a pivot towards virtual interviews may lead to officers being unable to spot behavioural clues indicating an applicant’s potential deceit.
Expressing his concerns that the process has become ‘codified’, he told The Telegraph: ‘It is much harder to spot if someone is telling the truth if you are doing it online rather than sitting in the room with the asylum seeker and their lawyer.’
Migrants try to board a crowded smuggler’s boat off the coast of northern France on September 19 in a bid to cross the English Channel
The UK Border Force vessel brings migrants who were intercepted crossing the English Channel into Dover port on October 08, 2025 in Dover, England
Explaining how he would conduct such interviews they would be done in person, where eye-contact with the applicant could be made, he added that behavioural patterns and potential deceit could be spotted.
‘You get a sixth sense as to whether someone is being honest,’ he said. ‘I am not sure online interviews capture that.’
Elsewhere refugee groups have been at odds regarding the Home Office’s virtual approach with UN Agency for Refugees (UNHCR) arguing online interviews gave applicants more flexibility and protected them from travelling ‘unnecessar[ily]’.
However, human rights charity Freedom from Torture said remote interviews could have a negative impact on decisions made regarding asylum seekers as they often struggle conveying their lived experiences virtually.
Home Office job adverts say both enforcement officers as well as asylum decision-makers are allowed to spend as much as 60 percent of the working week from home.
Roles are available in London, Liverpool and Leeds, with interviewees expected to analyse evidence and decide if hypothetical asylum applicants should have their bid granted or if they should be deported.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, a large portion of asylum interviews were carried out face to face at the department’s interviews centres dotted throughout the UK.
Applicants were usually expected to be present alongside a legal representative and interpreters at centres at locations such as London, Liverpool and Glasgow, where there were stringent security procedures and audio recording in place.
Before July 2021, video interviews were not a typical option.
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According to Home Office data, during the year to June, a record number of asylum applications were made, totalling to 110,000 bids.
However, figures show the Government has been working through cases at a greater speed with application rates up 14 per cent from the previous year.
And while they were also higher than the peak of 103,000 in 2003, officials were processing claims even more quickly prior to the general election.
Statistics showed the backlog was almost half the peak of 134,000 claims at the end of June 2023, with a backlog of 71,000 relating to 91,000 waiting for a first decision.
The Daily Mail has approached the Home Office for comment.
