Safe Passage International challenges Home Office refugee family reunion suspension
Safe Passage International has brought a legal challenge against the Home Office’s suspension of the Refugee Family Reunion pathway for child and partner reunification, which took effect on 4 September 2025, arguing that the decision is unlawful, irrational, and in breach of duties to safeguard children and comply with the Equality Act 2010. Safe passage notes that according to Home Office data, in the last year, more than 5,000 children have crossed the Channel, over half of them alone. Women and children are especially impacted by the suspension, making up 92% of all Refugee Family Reunion grants. The organisation states that the suspension forces refugees to use more restrictive and costly immigration routes intended for British citizens and settled migrants, imposing high fees, income thresholds, and procedural barriers that most refugees cannot meet, particularly women, children, and people with disabilities who previously formed the majority of applicants. Safe Passage and its legal representatives at Asylum Aid report significant psychological harm to separated families and warn that the remaining routes overlook the realities of those fleeing conflict and persecution, thereby increasing the likelihood that refugees will attempt unsafe journeys. Their case, lodged in November 2025 and granted permission in February 2026, highlights families unable to reunite, including one separated in Gaza, and is brought amid wider government plans to introduce further restrictions on refugee family reunion.