Border Agency cut too many staff, says spending watchdog
The UK Border Agency has been forced to hire extra staff and increase overtime because it laid off 1,000 more people than originally intended, a report by the National Audit Office has revealed.
The government’s spending watchdog said 22,580 people were employed by UKBA in April last year and by April this year that number had fallen to 20,469.
It found that UKBA continued to lay off staff even though the introduction of a £385m automated immigration system, which would have taken over some of their workload, had been delayed by 12 months.
The system was £28m over its £224m budget and expected savings as a result of its introduction had been reduced to £106m, added the National Audit Agency.
Its report said: "In 2011-12, the agency’s workforce reduced by over 1,000 more than planned, despite the fact that progress was slower than expected in the ICW [immigration casework] programme and workforce modernisation at the border, and no agency-wide skills strategy was yet in place."
The National Audit Office said more employees than expected had put themselves forward for redundancy.
The report added: "Loss of focus, poor governance and a tendency towards optimism bias in planning, delivery and reporting, have contributed to the current problems."
In February this year, the UKBA was split in two after it revealed that border guards were letting people into the country without appropriate checks.
A Home Office spokesman told the BBC: "We’re under no illusions about the scale of the challenge in transforming the UK Border Agency and Border Force and we have already saved huge sums of taxpayers’ money, overhauled our business planning and improved performance in key areas of our work.
"Both organisations have now been reorganised into smaller, more focused agencies capable of delivering the further improvements that the public expects and deserves to see."
By Linsey McNeill
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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