Scheme not to detain women seeking asylum leads to only one staying in UK

UNHCR-backed pilot sought to process claims in the community from those whose initial applications had been rejected

A groundbreaking scheme overseen by UNHCR to process women's asylum claims in the community rather than by locking up the applicants in detention has led to only one being granted leave to remain in the UK, according to a report.

The aim of the pilot scheme was not to boost granted rates of asylum claims but to demonstrate that the asylum process could be successfully managed in the community without the need to lock women up, something the United Nations refugee agency said it had succeeded in doing in the report published on Monday.