A refugee charity has accused the Home Office of wasting an estimated £11 million last year by making flawed decisions on asylum claims that had to be overturned on appeal.

Refugee and Migrant Justice criticised the Home Office following the publication of quarterly immigration figures yesterday, which it said revealed a "deterioration" in the quality of the department's decision making

The figures showed that in 2009 there were 24,550 asylum applications made in the UK, 73% of which were refused at the initial stage.

A total of 14,595 asylum appeals were lodged in 2009, 36% higher than in 2008, and 4,150 of these were successful at an independent tribunal.

Refugee and Migrant Justice said the total cost of all the successful appeals, based on an estimated average cost per appeal of £2,730.57, added up to more than £11 million.

The charity added that a number of countries, such as Zimbabwe, Somalia and Eritrea, were well documented for human rights abuse and having extremely high rates of success at appeal tribunals, suggesting that these cases were not being dealt with properly at the first stage.

Caroline Slocock, chief executive of Refugee and Migrant Justice, said: "These statistics reveal a deterioration in the quality of decision making by the Home Office, which has been poor for some time.

"As a result, time and money is being wasted and the Government is struggling to meet its targets for resolving cases within six months.

"If our criminal justice system were exposed as having such poor decision making processes, there would be public uproar.

"The number of asylum applications winning on appeal has gone from one in four cases in 2008, to almost one in three.

"In some cases the figures are even more extreme - one in two appeals from Somalian-born applicants, and more than one in three for people from Zimbabwe.

"The Home Office's Early Legal Advice Pilot in Solihull in demonstrated that spending more time at the outset of applications resulted in the Home Office getting more decisions right first time, saving money and resolving more cases within six months.

"We welcome the Home Office's commitment to roll out the pilot to another UK Border Agency region later this year.

"However, it must act faster to solve the problem of poor quality decision-making and stop millions of pounds being wasted."

Border and Immigration Minister Phil Woolas said: "Asylum applications for the last three months of 2009 were the lowest since the early 1990s. Net migration is down, and the new UK Border Agency is increasingly successful."

"Our border has never been stronger, as shown by the fall in the number of asylum applications.

"Our new flexible points based system also gives us greater control over those coming to work or study from outside Europe, ensuring that only those that Britain need can come.

"We are making the UK a more hostile place for illegal immigrants by issuing foreign nationals with ID cards, checking those who apply for visas against watch lists and fining those who employ illegal workers."

Refugee and Migrant Justice, formerly the Refugee Legal Centre, provides legal representation to asylum seekers and other vulnerable migrants. For more information visit www.rmj.org.uk.

By Staff reporter and agencies