Home Office faces legal claims over seizure of asylum seekers' phones

The Home Offi ce faces a wave of legal claims after the UK’s surveillance watchdog found that a blanket policy of seizing thousands of asylum seekers’ mobile phones caused “signifi cant harm”.

- Harry Davies

The Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office (IPCO) has written to a large group of asylum seekers to notify them of their right to bring a case before a surveillance tribunal. In a notice published last week, the IPCO said its investigation into the phone seizures, which occurred during 2020, found immigration offi cials made “serious” errors .

The organisation , which oversees public authorities’ use of intrusive surveillance powers, found that “signifi cant harm and prejudice was suff ered because of [immigration] offi cers’ actions”. It said: “It is in the public interest that aff ected persons are informed of the error. ”

Last year, the h igh c ourt ruled that the Home Offi ce unlawfully operated the blanket policy under which offi cials seized the phones of all asylum seekers arriving in the UK on small boats.