Bronwen Jones
Bronwen specialises in asylum and immigration and children family law.
In family law, Bronwen acts in cases concerning the care and safeguarding of children, applications under the Family Law Act 1986 and 1996, and matters concerning the inherent jurisdiction of the High Court. In private children law, she has experience of contested applications for temporary removal from the jurisdiction; jurisdictional disputes pursuant to BIIR; proceedings under the Hague Convention; fact-finding hearings; shared care arrangements; multi-party proceedings; and s. 10 applications for leave to apply for s. 8 orders, including in the context of post-adoption contact. Her experience in public law proceedings includes interim and final contested hearings for public law orders; s. 34(3) and (4) applications; secure accommodation; s. 8 and special guardianship orders as outcomes to care proceedings; private adoption; and application for permission to apply for the revocation of a placement order.
In immigration law, Bronwen acts for claimants and appellants in all matters concerning asylum, immigration, and nationality law. She appears frequently in asylum appeals in both the First-tier and Upper Tribunals and has also represented appellants at the Court of Appeal. She acts in judicial review proceedings both at the Upper Tribunal and the High Court. She specialises in protection appeals and cases involving asserted breaches of Convention rights. Her cross-expertise in family law is particularly useful in cases involving the best interests of children pursuant to s. 55 of the 2009 Act. She also provides expert opinions on immigration law in family proceedings.
Practice Area
Panel
- Contributing Author
Qualified Year
- 2009
Membership
- Family Law Bar Association
- Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association
- Bar Human Rights Committee
Qualifications
- LLB (2009)
- MA (2003)
- BA (2002)
Education
- College of Law (London) (2009)
- Queen’s University (Canada) (2003)
- McGill University (2002)
4 Contributions by Bronwen Jones
PRACTICE NOTES
Age disputes in immigration and asylum: Merton-compliant assessments, NAAB, scientific methods, and judicial review (England and Wales)
Undocumented migrants claiming to be children
While this Practice Note is not confined to unaccompanied asylum-seeking (UAS) children, they are the cohort a practitioner will most commonly encounter routinely in practice.
Other situations that a practitioner may meet include the following:
where a child is deserted yet makes no asylum claim at all; or
where the age of a dependent child of an asylum seeker is in question
Reaching an incorrect conclusion about a young person’s age is a serious matter with significant consequences...
Local Government
PRACTICE NOTES
Asylum support for families with children and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children turning 18: destitution, accommodation adequacy, and Home Office and local authority responsibilities
Claim for asylum
A claim for asylum is an application made by someone outside their state of nationality or usual residence who contends that being forced back would constitute refoulement, ie it would violate the UK's duties under the 1951 Refugee Convention by returning them to a place where they face a genuine risk of persecution. Asylum claims frequently overlap with requests for humanitarian protection. An asylum claim also encompasses a claim under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) where the applicant asserts that, if removed to their country of origin, they would be tortured or exposed to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. See Practice Note: Dealing with a human rights challenge. From 6 April 2015, the right to bring an in-country appeal against refusal of an asylum claim arises under section 82(1)(a) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (NIAA 2002) (as amended by the Immigration Act 2014), as a determination by the Secretary of State 'to refuse a protection claim' in such circumstances under applicable law...
Local Government
PRACTICE NOTES
England: Local authority duties for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children—age assessment, accommodation and support, National Transfer Scheme, and leaving care to 21–25
Practice Note
Although this Practice Note is not confined to unaccompanied asylum-seeking (UAS) children, they are the group a practitioner is most likely to meet quite often in practice.
Other situations can arise, for example:
a child who has been abandoned but does not lodge an asylum claim;
a dispute about the age of a dependent child of any asylum seeker.
The material in this Practice Note concerns the law currently in force in England. In Wales, this field is governed by the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 and associated statutory instruments.
This Practice Note does not attempt to detail every obligation owed by the local authority (LA) to a child because they are looked after by the LA. For those obligations, see Practice Note: Local authority duties towards children looked after by them. However, the key duties are addressed here.
An application for asylum also includes a claim under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) where the applicant contends that, if returned to their country of origin, they would face torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment...
Local Government
PRACTICE NOTES
Section 17 Children Act 1989 support for families without leave to remain: Schedule 3 NIAA 2002, Articles 3 and 8 ECHR and procedural protection (England and Wales)
Applicable families
This Practice Note addresses circumstances in which a family with at least one child under 18 is in the UK without current leave to remain (LTR) (that is, a person within paragraph 7 of Schedule 3 to the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (NIAA 2002) who is in breach of immigration law and has not made an asylum/protection claim as defined by NIAA 2002, s 82(2) (as amended)).
The case of R (on the application of EAT) v Newham London Borough Council examined how a local authority (LA) should approach section 122(5)(b) of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, and whether there were reasonable grounds to believe a person had lodged an asylum claim that would prevent the LA from offering support. The court determined that the assessment must centre on the pertinent application and whether such a claim has been advanced, either expressly or by implication.
When the family have:
not applied to the Secretary of State for the Home Department (Home Secretary) to regularise their stay
applied to remain in the UK on the basis of their human rights...
Local Government
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