Serco defeats challenge over eviction of failed asylum seekers in Glasgow

Contractor Serco has won a case in Scotland’s Court of Session over whether it can evict asylum seekers who refuse to vacate homes when their applications are rejected.

Serco is a contractor to the Home Office, providing accommodation and support services while asylum claims are processed.

Two failed asylum seekers challenged Serco’s right to evict them in the absence of a court order and argued their rights under articles 3 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights had been breached.

Lord Tyre found that neither was paying for the accommodation - since it was paid for by the Home Office - and “the situation is not, therefore, analogous to the satisfaction of a tenant’s obligation to pay rent by remittance of housing benefit directly to the landlord; in the present case there is simply no obligation to be satisfied.

“Instead there is a separate contract between the Home Office and Serco in terms of which Serco agrees to make available temporary accommodation, free of charge, to asylum seekers falling within section 95 and to failed asylum seekers to whom accommodation is to be provided under section 4, and the Home Office agrees to remunerate Serco for carrying out that service.”

The judge said this meant one of the four cardinal elements of a lease - rent payment - was absent.

Julia Rogers, managing director of Serco’s immigration business, said: “In August 2018 we said that we unreservedly welcomed the legal challenge as it would enable all parties to clarify what was at that point an untested area of Scottish law. 

“Today we have that clarity, and we are pleased that the Court of Session has confirmed our views on the legal position.”

Ms Rogers said Serco would take no immediate action but would discuss the issue with the Home Office, Glasgow City Council and other partners “given that there continues to be a very significant number of people in Glasgow whose claim for asylum has been refused by the UK Government and who are continuing to receive the benefit of free accommodation, paid for by Serco, some for months, even years”.

Commenting on the ruling, Judith Robertson, Chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission and Lynn Welsh, Head of Legal for the Equality and Human Rights Commission Scotland, said: "We remain extremely concerned about Serco’s policy of locking people out of their homes without proper processes or safeguards, and the harsh impact this has on the people affected, leaving them with nowhere to go and in a vulnerable situation on Scotland’s streets.

"We continue to have concerns that the policy fails to comply with people’s human rights including their right to a private and family life."

Robertson and Welsh added: "We will now consider the most appropriate next course of action, including possible legal intervention in another relevant case.

"The judgment does provide welcome clarification that Serco has obligations under human rights laws when it comes to providing this accommodation and that the UK government cannot simply divest itself of its human rights obligations by outsourcing the provision of public services to private providers."