Overview
- Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced proposals to replace the standard five-year refugee grant with a 30‑month status that is regularly reviewed and can end if a home country is deemed safe.
- Successful asylum applicants would face a wait of up to 20 years before seeking long‑term residence, replacing today’s five‑year route to indefinite leave.
- The Home Office plans to end automatic entitlements to housing and weekly payments, shifting support to discretionary decisions that can be withheld from people who can work but do not or who break the law.
- Officials say the changes, modeled on Denmark’s system, will be brought to Parliament for detailed presentation imminently and would apply chiefly to new arrivals.
- Charities and rights groups, including the Refugee Council, condemned the measures as harmful, while ministers point to a 17% annual rise to 109,343 asylum applications and political pressure from Reform UK; the government also signals new safe and legal routes will be proposed.