The High Court has ruled that the UK government acted unlawfully by forcing survivors of torture, trafficking, and other serious violence to share rooms with strangers in asylum accommodation. The judgment, delivered by Mr Justice Sweeting on Thursday, is a significant blow to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s plans to move more asylum seekers into shared housing and former army barracks.
The court found that the government failed to consult charities or assess the impact of the policy change, introduced in February 2024 by the previous government. Prior to this, there was a “protective presumption” against placing torture survivors in shared rooms. The ruling stated that the government ignored “longstanding, consistent evidence of the serious risks of harm” faced by these vulnerable individuals.
Charities Freedom From Torture (FFT) and the Helen Bamber Foundation brought the legal challenge. Natasha Tsangarides, associate director of advocacy at FFT, called the judgment a “vital and resounding victory” for survivors, adding that they had been “placed in harm’s way” by the policy. Kamena Dorling, a director at the Helen Bamber Foundation, said terrible living conditions had impeded survivors’ recovery.
The Home Office must now decide whether to revert to the old policy or reintroduce the changes after proper consultation and impact assessment. A Home Office spokesperson said the department would “carefully consider” the judgment and noted that “lessons have been learned from large sites acquired under the previous government.”
Approximately 10,000 torture survivors could be affected by the ruling. Meanwhile, the Home Office has awarded a £322,000 contract to Akhter Computers to use AI facial recognition to estimate the age of asylum seekers claiming to be children, amid concerns about inadequate training for staff conducting age assessments.
