The Government remains extremely concerned about levels of worker exploitation in the adult social care sector and UKVI continue to investigate all allegations of sponsor non-compliance.

Revocation is generally a last resort, for example where a sponsor breaches their mandatory duty to pay the worker in accordance with the Immigration Rules and/or national minimum wage regulations.

The Home Office continues to work very closely with the 15 Regional Partnerships funded by the Department for Health and Social Care, together with officials in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This involves data sharing agreements to ensure local authorities are in a position both to address risks to continuity of care and support workers who need new employment.

UKVI also offers a dedicated point of contact, which ensures the prioritisation of all applications for sponsorship or visas related to the workforce who are displaced by revocation absent of any additional priority service fees.

UKVI will continue to apply the full range and appropriate level of checks required for all visa applications processed by the department.

All applications under the Immigration Rules are also processed by staff in UKVI under the UKVI Operating Mandate which sets out clearly the baseline requirements for UKVI staff in terms of carrying out a range of identity and security checks for every application made under the immigration rules

The majority of visa applications are decided within published processing times. Further information on the visa processing times: applications inside and outside the UK is available at Visa processing times: applications outside the UK - GOV.UK and Visa processing times: applications inside the UK - GOV.UK which is regularly updated.

All visa applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis and some cases require longer consideration, for example where further information is required before a decision can be made. Where this is the case, applicants are contacted to advise them that their application is taking longer than the published processing time.

If an application has exceeded the published processing time and the applicant has not been contacted, they are advised to seek assistance through https://www.gov.uk/contact-ukvi-inside-outside-uk .

Statistics on UK Visas and Immigration applications are published in table VSI_03 Migration Work-In-Progress on GOV.UK in the publication 'Visas, status and immigration data: April to June 2026', as part of the Migration Transparency Data. The information displayed goes back to 2019.

The VSI_03 Migration Work-In-Progress data table provides data on the volume of overseas and in-country applications received and output for each route, performance against service standards for each route, and the number of applications that remain outstanding (work in progress).

The majority of visa applications are decided within published processing times. Further information on the visa processing times: applications inside and outside the UK is available at Visa processing times: applications outside the UK - GOV.UK and Visa processing times: applications inside the UK - GOV.UK which is regularly updated.

All visa applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis and some cases require longer consideration, for example where further information is required before a decision can be made. Where this is the case, applicants are contacted to advise them that their application is taking longer than the published processing time.

If an application has exceeded the published processing time and the applicant has not been contacted, they are advised to seek assistance through https://www.gov.uk/contact-ukvi-inside-outside-uk .

Statistics on UK Visas and Immigration applications are published in table VSI_03 Migration Work-In-Progress on GOV.UK in the publication 'Visas, status and immigration data: April to June 2026', as part of the Migration Transparency Data. The information displayed goes back to 2019.

The VSI_03 Migration Work-In-Progress data table provides data on the volume of overseas and in-country applications received and output for each route, performance against service standards for each route, and the number of applications that remain outstanding (work in progress).

Where changes to fee legislation are made, Impact Assessments are produced which identify potential impacts resulting from the changes to those fees.

The latest assessment, published alongside changes which came into effect in April 2026 and which included the fee for an Electronic Travel Authorisation, is available here:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2026/44/pdfs/ukia_20260044_en.pdf

The consultation for the earned settlement model, as proposed in ‘A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’, was open to the public between 20 November 2025 and 12 February 2026.

The new model will increase the standard qualifying period for settlement to ten years. Although not all visa routes lead directly to settlement, under the proposed model, time already spent lawfully in the UK by people in a qualifying route will count towards their qualifying period once the final model is introduced.

Once the Home Secretary has decided the final model, it will be subject to economic and equality impact assessments. These will be published in due course.

The information requested is not centrally held and could only be collected and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

The majority of visa applications are decided within published processing times. Further information on the visa processing times: applications inside and outside the UK is available at Visa processing times: applications outside the UK - GOV.UK and Visa processing times: applications inside the UK - GOV.UK which is regularly updated.

All visa applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis and some cases require longer consideration, for example where further information is required before a decision can be made. Where this is the case, applicants are contacted to advise them that their application is taking longer than the published processing time.

If an application has exceeded the published processing time and the applicant has not been contacted, they are advised to seek assistance through https://www.gov.uk/contact-ukvi-inside-outside-uk .

Statistics on UK Visas and Immigration applications are published in table VSI_03 Migration Work-In-Progress on GOV.UK in the publication 'Visas, status and immigration data: April to June 2026', as part of the Migration Transparency Data. The information displayed goes back to 2019.

The VSI_03 Migration Work-In-Progress data table provides data on the volume of overseas and in-country applications received and output for each route, performance against service standards for each route, and the number of applications that remain outstanding (work in progress).

Due to data quality issues arising from the transition from the Home Office’s Case Information Database (CID) to the newer Atlas caseworking system, data from 2021 onwards cannot currently be provided at the same level of detail as for earlier years. This includes breakdowns by age and sex.

The Home Office continues to review the quality of the underlying administrative data, with a view to reinstating age and sex breakdowns when the data are of sufficient quality to support their publication.

More information is available in the Notes and Definitions page of the Citizenship detailed tables.

We do not publish data on the number of individuals across individual Immigration routes who have been recognised as victims of modern slavery.

An established process exists whereby UKVI are notified of such individuals and promptly review and respond to all concerns identified which includes investigating the Sponsor Licence Holder and applying the maximum sanctions available to us in these cases. Our current safeguarding and harm reduction processes often result in compliance action being resolved against the Sponsor Licence Holder prior to conclusive grounds decisions being made.

The Government keeps all migration risks under constant review. While the operation of the Schengen Area is a matter for the EU and Schengen member countries, the Government continues to monitor the situation closely. We note Spain’s cooperation with Morocco to bring the situation swiftly under control; that over 97% of those who crossed into Ceuta have now returned to Morocco; and that permanent border controls remain in place between Ceuta and mainland Spain.

Based on the information currently available, there is no evidence that the events in Ceuta have created a new route to the UK. The Prime Minister has offered support to Prime Minister Sánchez following the incident, and the Government is working closely with Spanish and Moroccan counterparts. The Government keeps all migration risks under constant review and continues to work with international partners to strengthen border security, tackle illegal migration and disrupt organised immigration crime.

The Government keeps all migration risks under constant review. While the operation of the Schengen Area is a matter for the EU and Schengen member countries, the Government continues to monitor the situation closely. We note Spain’s cooperation with Morocco to bring the situation swiftly under control; that over 97% of those who crossed into Ceuta have now returned to Morocco; and that permanent border controls remain in place between Ceuta and mainland Spain.

Based on the information currently available, there is no evidence that the events in Ceuta have created a new route to the UK. The Prime Minister has offered support to Prime Minister Sánchez following the incident, and the Government is working closely with Spanish and Moroccan counterparts. The Government keeps all migration risks under constant review and continues to work with international partners to strengthen border security, tackle illegal migration and disrupt organised immigration crime.

The Home Office works closely with accommodation providers, local authorities, MPs, police and other local partners before accommodation is established. Under the Full Dispersal Model, accommodation providers are expected to engage with local stakeholders at an early stage, and decisions are informed by local intelligence and consideration of local circumstances. The Home Office seeks to ensure pressures are more fairly shared across the country while taking account of local impacts and community considerations.

In the Immigration and Asylum Bill 2026: Impact Assessment, the costs and benefits associated with the Article 8 reforms have been quantified for the individuals directly impacted. Table 13 in Appendix A1 states that 81% of in-country family and private life visa grants were main applicants and 19% were dependants.

The Impact Assessment sets out a lifetime fiscal cost of -£141,000 per main applicant on the Family and Private Life route. In line with the Migration Advisory Committee’s methodology for estimating the lifetime fiscal impact of family partner visas, which did not account for the dependants of these main applicants, the equivalent lifetime fiscal cost of dependants has not been calculated, either for Article 8 or Asylum claimants.

The analysis produced by the Migration Advisory Committee can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/migration-advisory-committee-annual-report-2025/migration-advisory-committee-mac-annual-report-2025-accessible#chapter-1-fiscal-analysis-of-the-family-visa

The Home Office publishes statistics on a quarterly basis detailing the number of supported asylum seekers accommodated in local authority areas. These statistics can be found in at Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK. As at 31 March 2026, Bromsgrove supported 1 asylum seeker with subsistence only and 3 in dispersal accommodation.

Age assessment is a difficult area of work, with no single assessment technique, or combination of techniques, able to determine age with precision. Where an individual claims to be a child without any credible and clear documentary evidence of age, and where there is reason to doubt their claimed age, immigration officers are required to make an initial age decision to determine whether the individual should be treated as a child or an adult. This is an important first step to prevent individuals who are clearly an adult or child from being subjected unnecessarily to a more substantive age assessment and ensure individuals are routed to the correct adult or child process. Where age is in doubt, the Home Office works closely with local authorities and the National Age Assessment Board (NAAB) to ensure individuals are treated in accordance with their assessed age, and that appropriate care and support arrangements are in place.

The Home Office is currently providing a range of support to affected local authorities. This includes regular bilateral engagement with the impacted authorities, and support from the NAAB. In Bedford's case specifically, the NAAB has prioritised support for conducting age assessments and bespoke training for local authority social workers to increase local assessment capability and capacity.

The information you have requested on the number of foreign national offenders (FNOs) living in the community subject to a deportation order and the timescales to remove them is not available from published information.

Latest published information shows that at the end of Q2 2026 there were 21,294 FNOs living in the community and subject to deportation. We will work tirelessly to clear legal barriers, secure documentation or overcome other impediments to a return. The latest published information can be found at: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK.

The increase in FNOs living in the community since last year mainly occurred after March 2026, coinciding with changes introduced through the Sentencing Act 2026. These changes have increased numbers by expanding the use of suspended sentences as an alternative to custody, and by broadening the duty to deport to include foreign national offenders given suspended sentences of 12 months or more.

In recognition of the impacts of the Sentencing Act, the Home Office is recruiting more staff to focus more intensively on community FNOs and continues to review what more can be done. Measures contained within the Immigration & Asylum Bill will reduce abuse and enable increased returns.

On 1 September 2026, further sentence exclusions were announced under the new Progression Model introduced by the Sentencing Act 2026, which will apply to all FNOs serving eligible custodial sentences. These exclusions will also apply to the expansion of the Early Removal Scheme (ERS) which will remove the requirement for eligible FNOs to serve any minimum custodial period before they can be deported. FNOs who are excluded from ERS0 may still be eligible for removal having served 30% of their custodial sentence.

Where deportation cannot take place before an FNO reaches their Progression Model release date, the Home Office will consider if it is appropriate to detain them under immigration powers or to release the individual subject to immigration bail and any HMPPS licence conditions.

In the time since this government came to power and 31 July 2026, 11,733 FNOs have been returned from the UK. In the two years since the election, there has been a 41% increase in FNO returns on the last two years of the previous government (1 July 2024 to 30 June 2026, when compared to the previous 2-year period), and we will continue to do everything we can to remove these vile criminals from our streets.

The Home Secretary works closely with the French Minister of the Interior to tackle illegal migration and the organised criminal gangs that facilitate it. The three-year funding deal, signed by the Home Secretary and her French counterpart in April, is preventing dangerous small boat crossings, saving lives and tackling organised immigration crime. This deal significantly has significantly boosted law enforcement boots on the ground, who are now supported by enhanced drone surveillance, helicopters and camera systems. UK-France intelligence sharing has increased to target smuggling networks at every stage of the route. French authorities are using new maritime tactics to target so-called taxi boats. Since March, 12 vessels have been intercepted on the water before they could collect additional migrants along the coastline. Together, these measures aim to stop boats before launch and make these perilous crossings less viable. The agreement also supports expanded detention and removals capacity in France, alongside enhanced operational activity to disrupt migrant movements and smuggling networks across the route.