Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner to be abolished in major shake up

The Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner, or OISC as we all call it, is to be abolished in the new year. It will be replaced by a new-look Immigration Advice Authority, or IAA. Not to be confused with the Immigration and Asylum Accreditation Scheme (IAAS) run by the Law Society to improve the quality of advice given by immigration lawyers. Nor with the old Immigration Appellate Authority (IAA). And not with the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (IAA 1999) either.

The actual Immigration Services Commissioner, John Tuckett, will remain in existence as an institution and in post as a person. It is a statutory position under section 83 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. The Commissioner will apparently focus on the strategic direction of the new organisation, engaging with stakeholders and building partnerships to support the aims of the new agency. 

The Commissioner has a statutory duty to “promote good practice by those who provide immigration advice or immigration services”. And the Commissioner also certain functions allocated to him by statute which he “must” exercise for certain purposes, including making sure immigration advisers are fit and competent, act in the best interests of their clients and do not knowingly mislead the tribunals or courts. There was never any mention of the “Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner” in statute so replacing it with an Immigration Advice Agency seems feasible without new legislation.

The Immigration Advice Authority will apparently have a new leadership structure, “enhanced” workforce, and strengthened processes. Assuming that “enhanced” means “more of them”, this sounds costly. There will also be a comprehensive rebrand with new logo, social media channels and all that malarkey.

Heather Laing is being seconded from the Home Office to establish and run the agency as the new Chief Executive Officer. Laing is currently understood to be Director of Strategic Operations at the Illegal Migration Operations Command Centre. Her Home Office career goes back some eight years and before that she had a background in fraud prevention work at Cifas and the Student Loans Company.

The new agency is aiming to adopt a more “outward focussed” approach and is looking to grow. How far that growth is funded by the taxpayer and how far by higher registration fees for immigration advisers remains to be seen. The existing funding model will remain the same, we’ve been told, but that involves a mixture of taxpayer and fee funding. A new “vision”, mission and set of values are set to be announced, which presumably means some sort of change of direction for the organisation.

The big change is to be officially unveiled along with a new corporate plan on 16 January 2025. We’ll all learn more at that point. We hope.

All this rather seems to have come out of nowhere. As far as we’re aware there has been no consultation on these issues and the creation of a new, expanded agency was not mentioned in the recent consultation on registration fees. The change of name and branding will inevitably cause considerable confusion in the immigration services market given how long the OISC has been existence.

We’re left wondering why this change is being wrought. Was the OISC considered to be failing in its purpose? Is the change about improving the quantity and quality of available advice? Is it the Home Office reasserting itself over an arm’s length body? And, out of curiosity, has the revamp been in gestation for long or is it something the new government has instigated?

We reached out to the OISC for comment, who told us 

“This transformation builds on the legacy and knowledge of the OISC. It is underpinned by valuable input and insights from advisers, stakeholders and advice seekers, ensuring the future organisation continues to keep the advice seeker at the heart of all it does.

“While the organisation’s remit remains the same, this strategic shift reflects its transition to becoming a high-performing, outward focused organisation with enhanced capabilities and expertise.

“The goal of the organisation remains the same: to protect vulnerable individuals from unregulated advisers while ensuring the provision of high-quality immigration advice across the UK.”

The OISC also told us the rebranding is being managed from the existing budget and that this is a continuation of a transformation project that began in 2022.

We’re also wondering what we’re going rebrand our OISC training as. And what “OISC advisers” will be called in future. “IAA advisers” seems a bit too generic to work. And it makes them sound like they work for the agency directly.