The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) has opened a call for evidence as part of an inspection of the Home Office’s child safeguarding arrangements across the migration and borders system. The inspection will examine the effectiveness and consistency of safeguarding arrangements, focusing on initial encounters with children at the border, the management of referrals to the Home Office concerning children in-country and onward referrals to statutory agencies, and the sharing of safeguarding information within the Home Office and with external stakeholders. Inspectors are particularly seeking evidence concerning children arriving at airports, seaports or by small boat, accompanied asylum-seeking children, young people who raise age disputes within Immigration Removal Centres and children encountered through Immigration Enforcement activity. The ICIBI will assess the Home Office using its Inspection Framework. Its statutory remit does not extend to investigating or making decisions about individual cases, although individual cases may be considered where they illustrate or point to systemic issues. The call for evidence closes on 15 October 2026.

On 25 June 2026, the Home Office published a report by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) on overstayers (March–October 2025), along with the Home Office's response. Four other reports were published on the same day. This report had originally been sent to the Home Secretary on 21 October 2025. This inspection was conducted under former Chief Inspector David Bolt. This was a substantial 98-page report examining the Home Office's approach to both preventing overstaying and detecting overstayers. The headline finding is that the Home Office does not know how many overstayers are in the UK, has not published exit check data since 2020, has no single policy or strategy for tackling overstaying and has no Senior Civil Servant (SCS) with complete oversight of the department's response.

The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) has published an inspection report examining Border Force operations at juxtaposed controls in northern France (Calais, Coquelles, and Dunkerque) between August and November 2024. The inspection assessed the Border Force operation focusing on the efficiency and effectiveness of staff resources and detection methods, as well as Border Force's collaboration with security contractors, port and transport operators, and French authorities. The report noted the 91% reduction in detected clandestine entries at the juxtaposed controls from 56,000 in 2016 to 5,000 in 2024, but that the threat ‘remains high and unrelenting’, and made seven recommendations for operational improvements. The Home Office has accepted two recommendations and partially accepted four, focusing on analysis capabilities, training, civil penalties and stakeholder engagement.

The ICIBI has released a report examining the performance of the Immigration Enforcement Competent Authority (IECA) from January to June 2024. The inspection revealed significant changes following the implementation of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, which led to a steep increase in negative decisions for National Referral Mechanism (NRM) referrals. The report highlights concerns about the quality assurance regime and safeguarding response, which were found to be inadequate given the life-changing nature of NRM decisions. Additionally, the rapid expansion of the IECA workforce from 78 to 374 full-time equivalents between 2021 and 2024 resulted in poor sequencing of recruitment, leading to gaps in technical support and management. The ICIBI has made seven recommendations, all of which have been accepted or partially accepted by the Home Office, aimed at improving the IECA's operations and decision-making processes.

The ICIBI has released a report of the findings of a spot check inspection focused on the efficiency and effectiveness of Border Force’s operational response to general aviation (GA) flights at London City Airport (LCY). This spot check inspection has found a significant risk to security at the border at London City Airport (LCY). It has identified that there are failings at a local, regional, and national level in Border Force’s response to general aviation (GA).

The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) published findings on 20 March 2025 from its inspection of Home Office fee waiver applications management. The inspection, conducted August-November 2024, examined the shift from a 'destitution' to 'affordability' test and found issues with guidance and practice. The report made eight recommendations covering workforce planning, quality assurance and stakeholder engagement. The Home Office fully accepted five recommendations and partially accepted three, with implementation caveats. The inspection highlighted systemic issues including staff shortages, record-keeping problems and communication gaps.

On 25 June 2026, the Home Office published a report by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) on the Home Office's management of contact with migrants who are without leave to enter or remain (September 2024 – February 2025), along with the Home Office's response. Four other reports were published on the same day. This report had originally been sent to the Home Secretary on 12 May 2025. This inspection was conducted under former Chief Inspector David Bolt. This 134-page inspection examined how the Home Office maintains and re-establishes contact with migrants without valid leave to enter or remain — encompassing asylum claimants awaiting decisions, those who have exhausted appeal rights, and others who entered legally and overstayed or became irregular. The report found that the scale of the task runs into the hundreds of thousands of individuals, and is severely hampered by fragmented systems, poor data, inadequate IT, and a lack of cross-system ownership.

The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) has published a report examining the realisation of benefits under the Future Border and Immigration System (FBIS). It finds that several benefits arising from the programme’s digital border and immigration capabilities, including Electronic Travel Authorisations, eVisas, fee income and the removal of biometric residence permits, have been delivered or are progressing. However, the planned border-efficiency benefit will depend on further automation, infrastructure, legislative and workforce changes, and its delivery is expected to extend beyond the programme’s envisaged closure in March 2027. The report also finds that the inclusion of the target for a 563 full-time-equivalent reduction within wider Spending Review requirements makes progress against that target more difficult to attribute and track.

The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) has published a report on an inspection of the Border Force intelligence functions at the Humber ports from June 2022 to November 2022. The inspection focused the strategy for collecting, developing, targeting, handling, and analysing intelligence and the Border Force intelligence tasking process, including handoffs to law enforcement agencies (LEAs) for intelligence development.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has published a landmark advisory opinion on the obligations of States in respect of climate change. Dr Thomas Lehmann, Avocat à la Cour, discusses key extracts and provides an analysis of the opinion.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has published its advisory opinion on the obligations of States in respect of climate change. The ICJ unanimously held that climate change treaties, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement, impose binding obligations on States parties to protect the climate system and the broader environment from anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. It further concluded that under international human rights law, States must respect and ensure the effective enjoyment of human rights by taking necessary measures to safeguard the climate and environment. The ICJ emphasised that any breach of these obligations by a State constitutes an internationally wrongful act that entails State responsibility. The responsible State remains under a continuing duty to fulfil the breached obligation. Legal consequences of such wrongful acts may include: (a) cessation of the wrongful actions or omissions, if ongoing; (b) provision of assurances and guarantees of non-repetition of wrongful actions or omissions, if required by the circumstances; and (c) full reparation to affected States through restitution, compensation or satisfaction, provided that the general conditions of the law of State responsibility are met.

The International Capital Markets Association—the regulatory body for the bond market