The National Asylum Support Service (NASS) is a section of the
UK Visas and Immigration
UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) is a division of the Home Office responsible for the United Kingdom's visa system. It was formed in 2013 from the section of the UK Border Agency that had administered the visa system.
History
The then Home Secret ...
(UKVI) division of the
Home Office. It is responsible for supporting and accommodating people seeking
asylum while their cases are being dealt with.
[http://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/assets/0001/5894/july2004.pdf ]
NASS was created in April 2000 under the
Immigration and Nationality Act The U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act may refer to one of several acts including:
* Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952
* Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965
* Immigration Act of 1990
See also
* List of United States immigration legisla ...
. Previously, local authorities and the
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) were responsible for the support and accommodation of asylum seekers. NASS presently has about 900 employees, about half at the NASS central office in
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
and the others in 11 regional offices.
NASS describes its role as part of the "6th aim" of the
Home Office:
''"To regulate entry to, and settlement in, the United Kingdom effectively in the interests of
sustainable growth
Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The desir ...
and social inclusion. To provide an efficient and effective work permit system to meet economic and skills requirements, and fair, fast and effective programmes for dealing with visitors, citizenship and long term immigration applicants and those seeking refugee or asylum. To facilitate travel by UK citizens."''
NASS provides certain types of support to people seeking asylum during the time that their applications are under way, while not itself judging the asylum applications, which is a responsibility of other parts of
UKVI. The support can be support for accommodation, subsistence costs or both.
The
Asylum Support Partnership
The Asylum Support Partnership (ASP) is the largest asylum seeker support organisations in the United Kingdom and claims to be the only one giving asylum support over the whole of Britain.
The mission of the Partnership (ASP) is to ensure that 'al ...
is independent of NASS and its successors but assists and supports asylum seekers in its communications with them.
Organisation
NASS has a Director (presently Jeremy Oppenheim) and divides its work into several different areas (present leader in parentheses):
* Accommodation 2005 Programme and Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children Reform Projects (Brian Kinney)
* Commercial (Eric Davies)
* Operations (Hugh Ind)
* Resources and Planning (Paul Darling)
* Central Information and advice Unit (Susan Hadland).
References
{{Reflist17/02/00417/001
External links
UK Border Agency
United Kingdom border control
Immigration to the United Kingdom
Right of asylum in the United Kingdom
2000 establishments in the United Kingdom
Government agencies established in 2000