Enforcing Removals
Enforced returns refer to instances where the Home Office makes arrangements to remove immigration offenders or persons subject to a deportation order who do not intend to depart voluntarily from the United Kingdom. Voluntary return refers to any non-enforced departure of an individual with no right to remain.
	There has been a gradual long-term reduction in enforced returns from the United Kingdom. In 2019, enforced returns fell to 7,192 - 22% lower than the previous year, and continuing a downward trend since 2013, when there were 14,900 enforced returns. 11
	This Act creates a power for the Secretary of State to impose visa penalties on nationals of particular countries which do not co-operate with removal of their nationals who have no right to be in the United Kingdom.
	As of 2020, there are 10,000 Foreign National Offenders living in the community who are subject to deportation action; around a quarter of whom were released from prison more than 5 years ago. 12 And around 42,000 failed asylum seekers are still living in the community. 13 While there are various contributing factors to these trends, repeated legal challenges impede the Home Office’s ability to enforce immigration laws, contributing to a downward trend in the number of people, including Foreign National Offenders, being removed from the United Kingdom.
	In 2019, new claims, legal challenges or other issues were raised by 73% of people who had been detained within the United Kingdom following immigration offences, resulting in release from immigration detention in 94% of cases instead of removal from the United Kingdom. On full evaluation, very few of these claims amounted to a valid reason to remain in the United Kingdom. For all issues raised during immigration detention in 2017, 83% were ultimately unsuccessful. 14
	Foreign National Offenders serving prison sentences in the United Kingdom, where deportation is being pursued, become subject to the provisions of the Early Removal Scheme (ERS). This Scheme provides a window at the end of the custodial part of their sentence for offenders who are subject to a determinate sentence (a sentence with a defined length) during which they can be removed from prison for the purpose of immediate deportation.
	This Act will increase the removal window from 9 months to 12 months, subject to the individual serving at least half of the requisite custodial period in prison. Expanding the removal window increases the opportunity for deportation, thereby reducing the numbers of Foreign National Offenders in prison.
	The introduction of a "stop the clock" provision will pause a Foreign National Offender’s sentence following their removal and reactivate it should the Foreign National Offender return to the UK. This section makes changes to the regime in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 relating to the early removal of prisoners, enabling them to be removed at an earlier point in their sentence and while on recall, and providing that if they return to the UK their sentence continues where it left off.