Home Office staff still leaning on 25-year-old asylum case management system

Despite completing its rollout of a new case management system, Home Office caseworkers are still referring back to data in a 25-year-old legacy system when processing asylum claims, according to a public spending watchdog.

The National Audit Office (NAO) also found problems with the data input on the newly implemented system, Atlas, that are delaying decisions.

Atlas was developed to digitize and automate routine tasks, and streamline the process.

As asylum seekers have become the heightened focus of political attention in the UK, the report published this week [PDF] revealed the Home Office's continuing problems with technology systems that process applications. The current cost of supporting people seeking asylum is "disproportionately high" at £4.0 billion in 2024-25 largely driven by long delays and backlogs.

The Home Office had previously agreed to migrate from its legacy system, Casework Information Database (CID), in 2020, but staff continue to refer back ...