The Applicant was represented by Emma Fitzsimons of the Garden Court Immigration and Public Law teams, instructed by Monika Glowacka and Monika Nollet from Asylum Aid
The Upper Tribunal has found that the Secretary of State for the Home Department unlawfully operated an unpublished practice affecting recognised victims of trafficking and modern slavery who required leave to remain in the UK to assist their recovery.
- The judgment was handed down on 29 June 2026 and published on 8 July 2026.
- Read the full judgment
The case concerned the Home Office’s practice of granting only 12 months’ temporary permission to stay to recognised victims of trafficking or modern slavery where their medical treatment was open-ended, or where no specific treatment end date had been provided.
The Upper Tribunal found that, until 17 December 2025, that practice had been operated without being published.
The Applicant, a recognised victim of trafficking, challenged the lawfulness of the practice after the Home Office disclosed during judicial review proceedings that it had been applying an internal, unwritten practice when deciding the length of leave granted to victims under section 65 of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022.
The Home Office accepted that its late disclosure of the practice amounted to a breach of its duty of candour.
In its judgment, the Tribunal held that the unpublished practice was unlawful because affected individuals could not know that, without evidence of a treatment end date, they would generally receive only 12 months’ leave.
The Tribunal found that this unpublished practice:
- Prevented victims and their representatives from making informed and meaningful representations before decisions were made
- Operated rigidly and was inconsistent with the Home Office’s published policy, which required decisions on the duration of leave to be based on “all the available information”
- Unlawfully fettered decision-makers’ discretion and was irrational
The Tribunal granted declaratory relief that the Home Office’s operation of the undisclosed practice was unlawful.
The judgment is significant for recognised victims of trafficking and modern slavery who may have been affected by the Home Office’s unpublished practice over a period of years. The Tribunal noted that the practice had reportedly been in operation for approximately nine years and that many people may have been unknowingly affected by it.
Legal representatives advising victims of modern slavery should note that since 17 December 2025, the Current Circumstances Questionnaire has been amended so that it now reads:
“If you are unable to provide evidence of the time required to complete treatment then an initial period of leave of 12 months is generally considered by the Competent Authority to provide an appropriate length of time to access open-ended treatment.”
To instruct or contact Emma Fitzsimons, please email: contactmyclerks@gclaw.co.uk
