Lawyers acting for Iraqi interpreters who risked their lives working for the British military in Iraq failed yesterday to ease the tight conditions that must be met for them to be resettled in Britain.

Whitehall sources said that the Government was planning to review the assistance scheme for Iraqi workers but emphasised that the guidelines would not be changed.

The scheme was drawn up a year ago after a campaign in The Times about Iraqi staff who were being murdered and intimidated by militiamen because of their jobs. So far this year about 33 Iraqis and their families have been resettled in Britain, either travelling on a military plane directly from Iraq or being admitted through a refugee programme via Jordan.

Several former Iraqi interpreters say that the scheme is flawed because it applies only to people who worked for the British Government for a minimum of 12 consecutive months from the start of January 2005.

One man was forced to quit his job after only five months because his father was killed and he was threatened. Other workers whose contracts ended before the cut-off date say that militiamen still know they worked for the British Forces.

Eligibility is also barred to anyone who was employed by companies contracted by the British Government, even if he or she was exposed to similar risks.

The law firm Leigh Day & Co, acting for two former Iraqi interpreters and a laundry assistant who worked for the contractor KBR, applied yesterday at the High Court for a judicial review of the scheme.

Nathalie Lieven, QC for the complainants, argued that the purpose of the scheme was to protect those who worked for the Government. She said the rigid criteria meant that this duty of care was not being met.

Lawyers for the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence argued that such limitations were necessary to avoid the scheme becoming too costly and being inundated. The Government says that it has employed more than 20,000 Iraqis since the invasion of their country in 2003.

Nigel Giffen, QC, and Holly Stout, counsels for the defendants, wrote in their argument: “To formulate any set of defined criteria for entitlement to a benefit entails the drawing of lines, and may mean that some people fall on the wrong side of the line even though they are not obviously less deserving.”

Justice Baker found in favour of the Government, a ruling that was met with disappointment by Jamie Beagent, an assistant solicitor at Leigh Day & Co. “We plan to investigate what, if any, future options might be available to them,” he said, while admitting that the decision had “killed this legal challenge dead”.

The Ministry of Defence expressed confidence in the eligibility conditions set out in the assistance programme, which offers former Iraqi staff the choice between a one-off payment or the chance to apply for asylum in Britain through a United Nations-sponsored refugee scheme.

Current employees also have the option to travel to Britain directly. Government documents seen by The Times reveal the thought process behind the guidelines, announced by David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, in October last year.

“Any new policy needs to steer a course between a difficult set of conflicting requirements,” said a document entitled Assistance to Locally Engaged Staff in Iraq. “It should be sufficiently generous to represent an adequate response to the moral/reputational questions, while remaining within the bounds of affordability. Risks to wider immigration/ asylum policy need to be minimised.”

A Ministry of Defence source said that the Government was planning a review of the scheme, but this did not mean there would be changes to the guidelines. “It is just a follow-up after what the Foreign Secretary said a year ago,” the source said.

The lucky few

— Only a small proportion of Iraqis who worked for the British Army and applied to live here have been resettled with their families

— The Home Office said that 73 (including family members) had been given homes: 28 in Hull and 45 in Glasgow

— The largest number is expected to come to Britain under the Home Office's Gateway scheme, which covers all Iraqis employed by the Army and other government departments in Iraq up to August 2007

— Successful applicants must prove continuous employment with the British for at least 12 months to be eligible to apply for resettlement in Britain

— A total of 500 Iraqis with their family members are expected to arrive in Britain by April next year

— Home Office sources said that most Iraqis had opted to take money on offer rather than come to live in Britain, reflecting the improvement in security conditions

Source: Times archive

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