Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if it will establish an independent complaints mechanism for asylum seekers in contingency accommodation.

The Home Office introduced the Advice Issue Reporting and Eligibility (AIRE) service in September 2019, as operated by Migrant Help, to provide an independent resource for asylum seekers to request help, report issues and property defects, provide feedback or make complaints.

Asylum seekers are able to contact Migrant Help 24/7 by telephone, webchat or email, and there are strict service level agreements in place to resolving contacts, dependent on issue type. Accommodation providers are contractually obligated to respond to complaints within 5 working days of receipt. In the rare event that this timeframe is not honoured, or where an asylum seeker is dissatisfied with the response received, the complaint is escalated to the authority for comprehensive review and response. Where a complaint is upheld, the information is shared with the department’s Service Delivery Managers for discussion at contract management meetings with the providers to influence continuous improvement to the service. The complaints data is regularly monitored and analysed to identify trends in issues and feedback which can further enhance these conversations and maintain standards.