Policy paper

Immigration and Asylum Bill: Independent Immigration Appeals Authority

Published 8 October 2026

What are we doing?

We are creating a new Independent Immigration Appeals Authority (IIAA) to reform how immigration and asylum appeals are handled.

The new body will deliver a faster, more streamlined approach that is fair, independent, and better able to deal with high volumes of cases. It will consist of professionally trained and independently appointed adjudicators who will be able to determine a greater volume of cases and prioritise appeals in the public interest, including high harm foreign offenders and human rights claims that are clearly without merit.

We are introducing a claim notice for individuals liable to removal or deportation, requiring them to submit information relating to any immigration or modern slavery claim they have. Making a claim outside of the claim notice deadline, will have implications for how the respective immigration and modern slavery decision making progresses for that individual. It will encourage people to submit claims at the earliest opportunity to support early identification. It will disincentivise late disclosure, reduce opportunities for late claims to frustrate the removal process and ensure that robust decisions are made as quickly as possible.

The new system will introduce a single appeal route for claimants. They will have to raise all relevant matters up front. If their appeal is unsuccessful, they will only be allowed to seek permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal on a point of law. If unsuccessful, they will be required to leave the UK. This will help to resolve cases more quickly and provide greater clarity for individuals.

Why are we legislating?

The current appeals system is under significant pressure and is struggling to keep up with rising demand. As of June 2026, there were around 156,000 outstanding appeals, 90,000 of which are asylum appeals, the highest level on record, and people are waiting on average over a year for a decision on their case.

At the same time, more appeals are entering the system than can be resolved each year, meaning the backlog continues to grow.

These delays leave people waiting too long for decisions and make it harder to enforce immigration rules where individuals do not have the right to remain in the UK.

Reform is needed to create a system that is fair, efficient, and able to deliver timely decisions, while maintaining independence and high-quality decision making.

How will the bill achieve this?

The bill will establish the Independent Immigration Appeals Authority in legislation, creating a new framework for handling appeals.

The new system will:

• introduce a single appeal process so cases can be resolved more quickly
• increase capacity by expanding the pool of trained decision-makers
• enable faster decisions while maintaining fairness and independence
• reduce delays caused by late or repeated claims
• ensure cases flow through quickly to removal where appeals are unsuccessful to scale up removals of those with no right to be here.

Key statistics

• Outstanding asylum appeal cases have risen significantly in recent years, reaching around 90,000 as of June 2026. ^{[footnote 1]}
• This represents a 51% increase year-on-year, reflecting a sharp rise in appeals entering the system.
• Around 61,000 new asylum appeals were lodged in the year ending June 2026, compared to only around 31,000 decided, meaning the backlog continues to grow.
• The mean time taken to clear appeals across all categories is at 65 weeks this quarter, which is 13 weeks longer compared to the same period a year ago.

Footnotes

1. Tribunals statistics quarterly: January to March 2026 ↩