{"value":{"id":1908595,"askingMemberId":4790,"askingMember":null,"house":"Commons","memberHasInterest":false,"dateTabled":"2026-05-21T00:00:00","dateForAnswer":"2026-06-01T00:00:00","uin":"3805","questionText":"To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of providing the right to work to people seeking asylum to the economy.","answeringBodyId":1,"answeringBodyName":"Home Office","isWithdrawn":false,"isNamedDay":false,"groupedQuestions":[],"answerIsHolding":false,"answerIsCorrection":false,"answeringMemberId":4641,"answeringMember":null,"correctingMemberId":null,"correctingMember":null,"dateAnswered":"2026-06-03T00:00:00","answerText":"<p>Asylum seekers are eligible to apply for permission to work in the UK if their claim has been outstanding for 12 months or more, through no fault of their own.</p><p>The Home Office keeps its policies under regular review. However, there are no plans to conduct a further review of the permission to work policy for asylum seekers. Instead, our focus is on restoring order and control to the asylum system and ensuring our policies do not encourage people to undercut the resident labour force.</p><p>In addition, our resources have been directed at making the asylum system more efficient by making accurate, robust and timely decisions. This means that those who are recognised as needing protection can work and integrate into society more quickly. Whilst the department considers evidence and research gathered from external groups, the benefits to the economy of allowing asylum seekers to work have often been based on overly optimistic assumptions.</p>","originalAnswerText":"","comparableAnswerText":"","dateAnswerCorrected":null,"dateHoldingAnswer":null,"attachmentCount":0,"heading":"Asylum: Employment","attachments":[],"groupedQuestionsDates":[]},"links":[{"rel":"self","href":"/Questions/1908595","method":"GET"}]}