Fewer families forcibly removed from UK
Gabriella Jozwiak
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
The number of families being forcibly removed from the UK is on the decline, with more choosing to return voluntarily since a family returns system was introduced in 2011.
A report by the independent family returns panel reveals that of the 1,470 families who left the country between 2014 and 2016 because they no longer had a right to be in the country, 1,323 did so voluntarily, 89 families with "assisted voluntary return" for families and children, and 14 families at the forceable "required return" stage.
This means 97 per cent of families who left the country did so without the need for an ensured return, compared with 76 per cent in between 2012 and 2014, and 51 per cent in 2011/12.
The panel's report states that there is also a positive trend of smaller numbers of families being arrested as part of the returns process as well as a significantly greater proportion of families returning voluntarily or with assistance.
"This is a very welcome trend as it reflects that fewer families have to experience the trauma of an arrest as part of an ensured return," the report states.
The report does, however, make a number of recommendations to the the Home Office for improvements to the system, the majority of which have been accepted.
Among these, it calls for greater efforts to be made to ensure families receive support from a local organisation when they arrive in their return country.
It also recommends that the Home Office provides clear guidelines on policies around separating families, stating that children under the age of five should never be separated from their mother "unless to protect them from harm or distress".
The government introduced the family returns process as part of its commitment to ending child detention.
Under the approach, families who have no right to remain in the country with children aged under 18, but refuse to leave, are referred to the independent family returns panel.
The panel is made up of medical and child safeguarding experts who advise the Home Office on how to safeguard children's welfare during an enforced return.
As a "last resort", families with children can be kept for 72 hours in "family-friendly" pre-departure accommodation - the Cedars centre near Crawley, West Sussex, where Barnardo's provides welfare and social care services.
Last year the government announced that the specialist Cedars pre-departure accommodation, which is used to house families for up to 72 hours before they left the country, will be closed.
It is due to be replaced with new pre-departure accommodation near Gatwick Airport in an attempt to reduce costs.
