Home Office Settles Significant Claim Following Suspected Homophobic Attacks In Asylum Accommodation

The Home Office has settled a significant civil claim brought by our client, a gay man, refugee and victim of torture, who experienced life-changing attacks whilst living in asylum accommodation.

The attacks, perpetrated by another resident at the accommodation, occurred despite multiple concerns being raised about the individual’s behaviour with Serco[1] and Migrant Help, organisations which the Home Office has contracted to provide accommodation and support to people seeking asylum. The concerns raised by our client with Serco and Migrant Help included that he had been subjected to a previous physical assault in his asylum accommodation by the perpetrator, and that the perpetrator had a knife and our client was scared he was going to use it.

Our client was subsequently stabbed in the arm and hand which resulted in him sustaining significant physical and psychiatric injuries. One of our client’s housemates tried to intervene and was also injured. Our client believes that the attacks were at least partially motivated by his sexual orientation. The perpetrator has subsequently been convicted of grievous bodily harm.

Our client brought a claim against the Home Office in negligence on the basis that the Home Office owes a non-delegable duty of care in respect of the provision of asylum accommodation. Our client also argued that there had been a breach of his rights under the Human Rights Act 1998 (including Articles 2, 3 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights) as the Home Office had failed to take appropriate steps to prevent the stabbing, for example by moving the perpetrator away from the asylum accommodation.

Although the Home Office initially denied that our client’s concerns were contemporaneously communicated to it or that it could be held liable for the actions and omissions of its contractors, a significant settlement has now been agreed.

Our client was represented by Emily Soothill, Tabatha Pinto, Ӧyku Aktaş and Joseph Isingrini. Nathan Roberts and Hayley Webster of Matrix Chambers were instructed.

[1] Serco is a private contractor who provides accommodation to people seeking asylum and the National Audit Office has revealed, alongside Clearspring and Mears, made combined profits of £383m on asylum accommodation contracts between September 2019 and August 2024: The Home Office’s asylum accommodation contracts