Campaigners ‘forced Home Office to change plans to deport rough sleepers’

Home Office plans to deport migrants who are forced to sleep rough have been foiled by a legal challenge, campaigners have claimed.

The Westminster government changed immigration rules in December 2020 enabling the cancellation of permission to stay in the UK on the grounds a non-UK national was sleeping rough in the UK. The Home Office said at the time the rule was a “last resort”.

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Refugee and Migrant Forum of Essex and London (Ramfel) and Public Interest Law Centre (Pilc) launched a legal challenge in response. Now the campaigners have insisted their intervention has seen the rule “watered down” to such a degree that it is yet to be used after more than two years of being in force.

Nick Beales, head of campaigning at Ramfel, said: “The government’s plan to cancel people’s leave to remain in the UK for the crime of falling on hard times and rough sleeping was always cruel, but also patently self-defeating.

“If people who are rough sleeping know that engaging with the authorities risks enforcement action and potential separation from loved ones, it strongly disincentivises them from seeking help. The government though ignored warnings to this effect and instead dogmatically pressed ahead.

“This rule was watered down to essentially become meaningless, but only after Ramfel and Pilc initiated legal action.”

The Home Office move caused uproar in 2020 with homelessness and migrants charities warning the move could see rough sleepers disengage with support services due to the fear of deportation. Some local authorities, including the Greater London Authority, said they would not comply.

Ramfel and Pilc raised £21,000 to launch a legal challenge.

The groups are now claiming success after their intervention saw the rule “watered down” in April 2021 meaning a person must “repeatedly refuse suitable offers of support and engage in persistent anti-social behaviour” before they can be deported.

The changes mean the rule has not been used once in the two years since, the campaigners discovered after the High Court refused a second judicial review into the rule.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “All applications for permission to stay are decided on a case by case basis. An individual sleeping rough may have their permission to stay refused where offers of support are declined or they engage in persistent anti-social behaviour.”

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However, campaigners have warned that while the rule remains in operation it still poses a risk to migrants as part of the government’s drive against immigration.

Ramfel’s Beales said the government’s policy of sending migrants to Rwanda or the Illegal Migration Bill, which has faced multiple defeats in the House of Lords, means rough sleepers could face being ejected from the UK in future.

He added: “It is another example of the government prioritising headline-grabbing cruelty over fair, sensible and workable immigration policies.”

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