Government set up secret £850m scheme to offer Afghans asylum after data breach
The UK government set up a secret £850m scheme to relocate some 25,000 Afghans and their families after an unprecedented data breach put them at risk of persecution from the Taliban.
The leak of the identities of thousands of Afghans, including those applying for asylum, came in early 2022 when a soldier inadvertently sent a list of names to Afgnan contacts.
It became known to the government after threats were made the full database could be posted on a Facebook group, leading to a wide government operation to prevent the details becoming public.
The government set aside some £6bn to offer Afghans involved in the breach asylum, putting huge pressure on government spending.
This cost was linked to the cost of extending the wider scheme for Afghans for another five years.
The breach will cost the government to the tune of £850m, with a total of 6,900 people expected to be relocated by the end of the scheme.
The details of the leak were only revealed after a superinjunction, which prevented anyone revealing the existence of an injunction against sensitive information being unveiled, was lifted on Tuesday following a campaign by The Times and other publications. The existence of the list could still pose risks to Afghans, the government has argued.
Defence secretary John Healey has carried out a review of the Taliban’s risk to the individuals on the list, which said the threat had been partly reduced and the superinjunction risked pushing up the value of the dataset to the group.
The government sought to cover up details of the leak, prompting criticism from activists and a potential lawsuit against the government that could cost £250m, according to The Times.
New risk to government after Afghan data breach
As of 30 June 2024, around 29,000 people received settlement in the UK under the two main schemes for resettling Afghans.
Earlier this month, the government abruptly closed the schemes, leaving thousands in the dark over settlement.
The full revelations of the leak – and associated costs – come at a time when public finances are under considerable strain following U-turns on welfare reforms.
City analysts have predicted that the government will have to raise as much as £24bn in taxes later this year to plug gaps.
The government will also face questions on whether the scheme would undermine plans to fix the asylum system.
Small boat crossings are considerably higher at this point in the year compared to 2024 despite closer coordination with France.
Afghanistan is the main nationality of around 15 per cent of all individuals involved in small boat crossings since 2018.
John Healey said withholding information from parliament had been “deeply uncomfortable”.
“This was a serious departmental error. It was in clear breach of strict data protection protocols.
And it was one of many data losses relating to the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme during this period.”
Sean Humber, a specialist data breach lawyer at Leigh Day, said: “Unfortunately, this is just the latest in a long line of data breaches by the MOD of personal data of Afghan citizens who had previously worked with UK armed forces.
“There is now an urgent need for a thorough and independent review of the MOD’s whole data processing policies and practises in order to try and prevent yet further breaches.”
Emily Keaney, deputy commissioner at the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), said no regulatory action would be taken against the MoD as it had taken “necessary steps” to prevent another breach.
“Data protection should never be a barrier to sharing information when this is needed to prevent harm and we accept that the initial sharing of the document was intentional and considered under the circumstances,” Keaney said.
“However, there were mistakes made beyond this, with hidden data in the spreadsheet.
“We have been clear with the Ministry of Defence that this incident is unacceptable and should never happen again – the stakes are simply too high.”