Asylum officials will give “no weight” to Article 8 claims when the family unit has been established when they were living in the UK illegally.
Migrants were brought into Gosport (Image: Getty)
Migrants will be barred from moving back into their family homes to exploit human rights laws and avoid removal from the UK. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has told asylum officials that “no weight” should be given to Article 8 – the right to a family life – claims when the it has been established when they were living in the UK illegally.
And new legislation will place a greater burden on relatives living together. A foreign criminal, failed asylum seeker or immigration offender will have to prove they have a “genuine and subsisting relationship”.
Shabana Mahmood is trying to tighten the rules (Image: Getty)
And courts will have to consider “how long” and “how often” a foreign criminal or failed asylum seeker has been in contact with their child.
But migrants will be barred from moving back into their family home in a bid to hoodwink officials.
Migrants who file last-minute human rights claims will also be deemed unreliable, as officials are concerned lawyers are waiting as late as possible to remove their clients from deportation flights.
Officials claim this delays deportations.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “The British public must trust that their immigration system is secure, controlled and not open to abuse.
“These reforms will protect its integrity, prevent exploitation and ensure that those with no right to be here are swiftly removed.
“This builds on our work to ramp up removals and slash asylum costs, while providing sanctuary to those who need it.”
Migrants will face monthly bills for their accommodation, with Ms Mahmood willing to deduct the cash from benefit payments.
Those given the right to work – once their asylum claims have been accepted – will also be told to begin paying back their costs.
Refugees will be barred from gaining settlement rights if they have not paid back the money.
Under the current plans, migrants are expected to pay around £10,000 towards their accommodation costs.
The Home Secretary will have the power to adjust the charge and the thresholds, as officials desperately scramble to slash the £4billion bill on the asylum system.
The powers needed to recover the costs will be set out by the Immigration and Asylum Bill when it is introduced to Parliament on Tuesday.
Triple lock change to hand extra £9.40 to state pensioners under 77
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has unveiled plans to change the triple lock.
Andy Burnham has unveiled plans to end the triple lock in 2030 (Image: Getty)
A triple lock change is set to hand an extra £9.40 per week to state pensioners aged 77 and under from next April.
The weekly increase comes from the annual rise to State Pension rates, which increase at the start of each new tax year in line with the triple lock. This is a UK Government guarantee that the State Pension will rise every year by the highest out of three measures: the consumer price index (CPI) measure of inflation (measured for September the year before), average wage growth between May and July the previous year, or a minimum of 2.5%. While Prime Minister Andy Burnham has unveiled plans to end the triple lock in 2030 to remove the link to average earnings, the system is set to remain unchanged until the end of this Parliament.
As such, State Pension rates are set to rise by 3.9% from April 2027 in line with average wage growth, as it’s the highest out of the triple lock measures, as it was last year.
With a 3.9% boost to rates in the pipeline, this would take the new State Pension from £241.30 per week up to £250.70, giving pensioners entitled to the maximum amount an extra £9.40 per week in the 2027 to 2028 tax year.
Over a full 12 months, this amounts to an annual payment boost of £488.80 if you’re eligible for the full amount. This uplift would apply to new state pensioners who reached State Pension age from April 6, 2016, when the qualifying age was set at 63 to 65. This later continued to rise to age 66, meaning new state pensioners will now all be aged under 77.
As for older pensioners who get the old basic State Pension, a 3.9% increase would take rates to £192.10 per week, up from £184.90, giving pensioners entitled to the full amount a weekly payment increase of £7.20, or an extra £374.40 annually.
You’ll get the basic State Pension if you’re a man born before April 6, 1951, or woman born before April 6, 1953, but your payment amount depends on your National Insurance record.
Of course, these figures are based on the maximum possible amount for those with a full qualifying National Insurance record, so those without enough qualifying years will receive less.
Ed Monk, Associate Director at Fidelity International, explained: “The State Pension in the current 2026/27 financial year is set at £241.30 a week, or £12,548 a year, for those claiming the full new State Pension. That follows a 4.8% rise from the year before based on the increase in wages, which was the highest of the three measures.
“And we now know the rise that will apply in the 2027-28 tax year. In April 2027 the State Pension will rise to £250.70 a week – £13,036.40 a year – following a 3.9% rise in wages that was confirmed in labour market data published this month.
“Consider that as recently as the 2022/23 tax year it was just £185.15 a week – meaning that by next year it will have risen by more than 35% in five years.”
Under Mr Burnham’s plans, the triple lock will end in 2030 and instead move to a proposed ‘double lock’ system which would see State Pension rates increase either by CPI inflation or a minimum of 2.5%.
The PM said this would generate “significant savings” by removing the link to average earnings, with this money then freed up to help build up a new National Care Service.
Mr Burnham said the State Pension “will hold its value relative to earnings over time so that pensioners will always share in the rising prosperity of the nation”.
In response to Mr Burnham’s announcement, Kate Smith, head of pensions at Aegon, said: “For millions of people, the state pension is the bedrock of retirement income and will continue to be so.
“Increases in earnings will still have a role to play, so pensioners are able to share in the relative prosperity and won’t lose out if UK earnings significantly outperform price increases. However, it’s unclear how this will work in practice… We await the detail.”
