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United Kingdom: High Court declares that the Secretary of State’s amendments to the Allocation of Asylum Accommodation Policy are unlawful for failure to consult and assess their impact on vulnerable asylum applicants
On 28 May 2026, the High Court of Justice (King’s Bench Division, Administrative Court) delivered its judgment in Freedom from Torture & Anor v Secretary of State for the Home Department (2026 EWHC 1278 (Admin)). The case concerned the challenge to the Secretary of State’s amendments “Allocation of Asylum Accommodation” policy (Versions 11–13), which significantly altered long-standing protective provisions for a particularly vulnerable group of asylum applicants, namely survivors of torture, trafficking and other serious violence victims receiving support from specialist organisations.
The Court held that there had been a long-standing practice of consultation with the Claimants in relation to relevant policy changes and found that the Defendant acted unlawfully by introducing the amendments without prior consultation. It considered that consultation would have been an obvious and reasonable means of assessing the likely impact of the changes on a vulnerable group of asylum applicants.
The Court further held that the Defendant breached the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 (“EA 2010”). The Equality Impact Assessments were materially inadequate, as they failed to properly assess the potential disproportionate harm that the policy changes would have on survivors of torture, trafficking and other serious violence, did not engage with relevant evidence of risk, and lacked adequate monitoring.
Finally, the Court held that the Defendant also breached the Tameside duty by introducing fundamental policy changes without adequately investigating their impact on survivors of torture, trafficking and other serious violence despite longstanding evidence of the serious risks faced by this vulnerable group. It held that the Secretary of State failed to undertake inquiry, engage with relevant expert sources, or consider relevant material before adopting the amendments.
Therefore, the Court concluded that the challenged amendments to the Allocation of Asylum Accommodation policy were unlawful.