Anger over UK immigration officials' bonuses
December 08 2009 by Liam Clifford
Bonuses for UK immigration staff despite 40,000 unresolved cases.
It has been
discovered that UK immigration officials were awarded bonuses totalling £300,000
despite there being long backlogs in immigration cases that have so far not been
dealt with.
Earlier this year the UK Border Agency admitted that some
40,000 UK immigration cases had been all but abandoned without officials knowing
for sure whether the immigrants were still living in the UK. Many of these cases
involved people who had moved to the UK on student visas.
Between 2007
and 2008, 29 employees of the UK Border Agency were awarded bonuses totalling
£295,000, despite these 40,000 unresolved cases.
The Commons Affairs
Select Committee says the agency is still far from “performing as it should.” It
reported that three years ago some 450,000 asylum cases were found, only 220,000
of which had been dealt with. As time passes it is more likely that asylum
seekers will establish a family while living in the UK, making it much harder to
send them home.
UK immigration minister Phil Woolas defended the bonus
payments, stating that the officials are “leading dynamic changes across the
business.” He continued, “I believe that it is right to reward staff for
outstanding work, and bonuses are only ever awarded to those who have performed
to a high standard.”
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