"DFT is an accelerated procedure for assessing asylum intended for claims by men or women that, according to the UK Border Agency, can be decided “quickly.” It is inherently unsuitable for complex cases—and the cases of both men and women can be complex. Indeed, more men than women are referred into the procedure. However, this report focuses on the use of DFT to process claims by women because claims that involve gender-related issues can be particularly complex, especially when they involve persecution by private individuals and the state’s failure to provide adequate protection, and assessing them fairly can involve practical challenges. 

After a woman is referred into the procedure, her claim is decided within two or three days. If refused—and in 2008 96 percent of claims were refused on first instance—she has two working days to appeal. This has to be heard within 11 days, meaning from start to finish the whole process takes around two weeks. All this time she is kept in detention, where she will remain pending deportation should her appeal fail. Since May 2005 over 2,000 women have been detained by the UK Home Office in Yarl’s Wood while their claims were assessed. In 2008 91% of appeals were refused.
 
The system is not rigorous enough to meet basic standards of fairness. This report focuses on its particular shortcomings as regards women, especially when it comes to properly assessing complex gender related claims. On this issue even the Home Office’s own quality team agrees: in 2006 it concluded that the DFT procedure was not sufficiently “robust” or substantive to enable it to identify such claims. However, complex gender related claims are still regularly referred into the procedure.  "