Sonali Naik QC and Ali Bandegani are instructed by Duncan Lewis for the applicants.
R (on the application of FB and another) v SSHD (removal window policy) [2018] UKUT 428 (IAC)
The applicants challenged the SSHD's 'removal window' policy. The policy gives those liable to removal from the UK notice that it will take place within a 28 day or 3 month 'removal window', it gives no notice of the actual date or time of removal. In response to the claim, the SSHD amended his removal window policy giving decision makers discretion to permit those liable to removal access to legal advice, documents and the courts before they are removed. The applicants amended their claim and the Upper Tribunal (The UT President Lane J, and O'Connor UTJ) held the SSHD's amended policy was, as a general matter, compatible with access to justice but legally deficient, both in its treatment of cases where a removal window is deferred and in the lack of information regarding place and route of removal. Lane J has since granted the applicants permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal on the access to justice ground, acknowledging it raises an important point of principle.
Sonali Naik QC and Ali Bandegani are members of the Garden Court Chambers Immigration Team.
