The deal can only be reported for the first time now after a super injunction was lifted
The scheme came about after a data breach (Image: Getty)
Thousands of Afghans are being relocated to the UK as part of a secret £850 million scheme set up after a personal data leak of Afghans who supported British forces, it can now be reported after the lifting of a superinjunction. A dataset containing the personal information of nearly 19,000 people who applied for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) was released “in error” in February 2022 by a defence official.
The breach resulted in the creation of a secret Afghan relocation scheme – the Afghanistan Response Route – in April 2024. The scheme is understood to have cost around £400 million so far, with a projected cost once completed of around £850 million. Millions more is expected to be paid in legal costs and compensation. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) only became aware of the breach over a year after the release, when excerpts of the dataset were anonymously posted onto a Facebook group in August 2023.
Around 4,500 people – made up of 900 Arap applicants and some 3,600 family members – have been brought to the UK or are in transit so far through the Afghanistan Response Route. (Image: Getty)
The dataset includes the names and contact details of the Arap applicants and their family members. Arap was responsible for relocating Afghan nationals who had worked for or with the UK Government and were, therefore, at risk of reprisals once the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021.
Between 80,000 and 100,000 people, including the estimated number of family members of the Arap applicants, were affected by the breach and could be at risk of harassment, torture or death if the Taliban obtained their data, judges said in June 2024. However, an independent review, commissioned by the Government in January 2025, concluded last month that the dataset is “unlikely to significantly shift Taliban understanding of individuals who may be of interest to them”.
Around 4,500 people – 900 Arap applicants and some 3,600 family members – have been brought to the UK or are in transit so far through the Afghanistan Response Route. A further 600 people and their relatives are expected to be relocated before the scheme closes, bringing the expected total to around 6,900 people by the end of the scheme.
The superinjunction, lifted on Tuesday, is thought to be the longest-lasting order of its kind and the first time the Government has sought such a restrictive measure against the media. At multiple hearings, lawyers for the MoD said in written submissions that there was a “very real risk that people who would otherwise live will die” if the Taliban gained access to the data.
The decision to apply for a superinjunction order was made by then-Defence Secretary Ben Wallace. (Image: Getty)
It is understood that the unnamed official had emailed the dataset outside of a secure government system while attempting to verify information, believing it to only have around 150 rows. However, more than 33,000 rows of information were inadvertently sent.
The unprecedented superinjunction was made at the High Court in September 2023 to reduce the risk of alerting the Taliban to the existence of the data. The decision to apply for an order was made by then-Defence Secretary Ben Wallace. The Information Commissioner’s Office and the Metropolitan Police were also informed.
However, a recent report by retired civil servant Paul Rimmer said: “Given the data they already have access to as the de facto government, we believe it is unlikely the dataset would be the single, or definitive, piece of information enabling or prompting the Taliban to act.”
Mr Rimmer also found that the Government possibly “inadvertently added more value to the dataset” by seeking the unprecedented superinjunction and creating a bespoke resettlement scheme.
Under plans set out last October, the Afghanistan Response Route was expected to allow up to 25,000 people, most of whom were ineligible for Arap but deemed to be at the highest risk from Taliban reprisals, to be relocated.
One internal Government document from February this year said: “This will mean relocating more Afghans to the UK than have been relocated under the Arap scheme, at a time when the UK’s immigration and asylum system is under significant strain. This will extend the scheme for another five years at a cost of c. £7 billion.”
However, the resettlement schemes are closing, with the review suggesting that the Afghanistan Response Route may be “disproportionate” to the impact of the Taliban obtaining the information.
Arap, which was launched in April 2021, is now closed to new applicants after immigration rule changes were laid in Parliament earlier this month.
It is expected that the cost of seeking and maintaining the superinjunction will be several million pounds. (Image: Getty)
The Government had originally outlined plans to launch a compensation scheme for those affected by the breach, with an estimated cost of between £120 and £350 million, not including administration expenses.
Hundreds of data protection legal challenges are also expected, with the court previously told that a Manchester-based law firm already had several hundred prospective clients.
Judge Mr Justice Chamberlain ruled in May 2024 that the superinjunction order should be lifted, stating there was a “significant possibility” the Taliban knew about the dataset, adding it was “fundamentally objectionable” that decisions about thousands of people’s lives and “enormous sums of public money now being committed” were being taken in secret.
However, judges at the Court of Appeal overturned this ruling the following month, finding that he had not properly considered the consequences of lifting the order and that the superinjunction should stay in place. Following the retired civil servant’s review, the MoD agreed on July 4 that the order could be lifted.
It is expected that the cost of seeking and maintaining the superinjunction will be several million pounds.
