The government has imposed a 24-week deadline on first-tier tribunals to decide asylum appeals and speed up removals - but immigration lawyers say the target will do nothing to clear the 150,000-strong backlog.

The Home Office announced this month that certain appeals submitted to the tribunal from 12 August must be decided within 24 weeks. The target applies to cases involving non-detained foreign national offenders and people receiving asylum support. Cases involving detained foreign national offenders are already fast-tracked.

With the average wait time for cases to be decided by a judge currently 67 weeks, and 150,000 appeals waiting to be heard, border security and asylum minister Anna Turley said the new target would see cases ‘resolved faster, reduce reliance on taxpayer-funded accommodation and speed up the removal of those with no right to be in the UK’.

However, the Immigration Law Practitioners Association (ILPA) said unrepresented appellants will struggle to gather the necessary evidence within 24 weeks and there will eventually be no lawyers available to help.

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ILPA said: 'Under the current fixed fee structure, providers cannot bill profit costs until a case concludes, so firms carrying backlog cases are sitting on “work in progress” they cannot recover for three years or even more, which is a direct disincentive to take on further asylum appeals, and a structural threat to firms whose business model depends on opening and closing files at a sustainable rate.’

ILPA raised its concerns with the Legal Aid Agency prior to the rule change and suggested solutions such as higher fees for cases in the backlog and allowing providers to bill a certain amount after a year.

The Home Office said in its announcement that judicial sitting days are being increased by 19%. Should the Immigration and Asylum Bill get through parliament unscathed, a new body of non-judges will also be set up to hear appeals.