Bindmans LLP has been successful in obtaining a commitment from the Government to relocate its client Afghan families to the UK by the end of the year. The Afghan families received offers of relocation from the UK government as part of the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy and some have been stuck in limbo in third countries for as long as nine months.  Some of the families are now in the UK.

The families have been provided with accommodation and food in the third countries, but their children have been denied education and any kind of enrichment or recreation. More recently, due to government crackdowns in third countries, the families have also been prevented from leaving their UK government-arranged accommodation for fear of arrest and deportation back to Taliban-led Afghanistan where their lives were in acute danger due to their work supporting the UK’s efforts in Afghanistan.

As revealed to the court during a hearing on 27 October 2023, the UK government is responsible for relocating thousands of Afghans to the UK, including over 1,000 children. The litigation has pressured the UK government to act quickly to relocate the families and to provide a full explanation of its approach and criteria for prioritising the relocation of Afghans, so that appropriate scrutiny can be applied.

Bindmans represents six families that have been or will be relocated by the end of the year. The following team members are advising them: Alice Hardy; Amy O’Shea; Jenni Whitaker; Jessie Brennan; Lily Seaborne; Miranda Critchley; Rachel Harger; Salima Budhani; Shirin Marker; Theodora Middleton and Zoe Clark.

Tom Hickman KC, Naina Patel, Tom Lowenthal and Emmeline Plews from Blackstone Chambers are instructed. 

The plight of Afghan families including our clients have been reported by the BBC, the Independent and the Guardian.