Restrictive rules banning asylum seekers from working in the UK would be lifted by a Labour government, the party has announced.

Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, said Labour was backing calls to grant asylum seekers and their adult dependants the right to work after waiting six months for a decision on their claim, unconstrained by the shortage occupations list.

People seeking asylum in the UK are only allowed to work if they have been waiting on a claim for 12 months or more and are able to fill a role on the shortage occupations list, which includes positions such as classical ballet dancers and geophysicists. The Home Office aims to process all initial asylum claims within six months, but 48% go beyond that target.

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Abbott said: “We think it’s both the right thing to do and it’s the humane thing to do. It will actually save public money and mean that people don’t end up working in the black economy.

“The Tories have made integration and tackling modern slavery key planks of their policy agenda, but they are both actively undermined by restrictions on the right to work.

“We’re committed to treating people who claim asylum with dignity and respect, and we’re announcing that Labour in government would allow asylum seekers to work after six months unconstrained by the shortage occupation list.”

The move by Labour comes after a parliamentary debate heard cross-party support for lifting the ban on asylum seekers working.

Caroline Spelman, a former environment secretary who tabled the debate on Wednesday, said: “The impact for an asylum seeker being able to work transforms their situation and helps hugely their mental health. The effect of working helps to integrate them better and results in them contributing to the economy.

“I just put myself in their shoes. Imagine if I had to live on £5.39 a day and struggle in so doing to support a family, and yet feeling my talents and everything I had learnt, my education, was in fact wasted. I would feel really down.

“And in that moment of isolation, sadly I would be focused on the whole reason I had left my country of origin and some of the terrors that had caused me to flee home. I’ve seen far too many asylum seekers who have been depressed by their experience. Enabling them to work I think would be transformational.

“There are countless human examples demonstrating that the capacity to work to aid integration and to promote good mental health amongst those seeking asylum is a good thing.”

Spelman’s comments come after the Lift the Ban coalition, made up of 80 groups including non-profit organisations, thinktanks, businesses and faith groups, launched a campaign to change the rules.

Its campaign launch report estimates that if half of the 11,000 asylum seekers aged 18 or over who are waiting on a decision were able to work full time on the national average wage, the government would receive £31.6m a year from their tax and national insurance contributions (NICs). It would also save £10.8m on the cash support it provides to those seeking asylum. At the low end of its estimates, Lift the Ban says a net contribution to the economy of £9.2m is possible.

Members of the public would be broadly supportive of lifting the ban on work, according to polling by the thinktank British Future, which found 71% agreed it would help integration if asylum seekers were allowed to work after six months waiting for their claim to be processed.

The immigration minister, Caroline Nokes, said she was considering some of the arguments, but cautioned that the government would have to take a “balanced approach”.

“I am listening very carefully to this argument, I think there is much merit in it. This is a multifaceted and complex issue and I’m looking forward to further discussions with both members and NGO colleagues, and I remain very much receptive to the views and evidence presented to me on the right to work,” she said.

“I do think it’s important to recognise there’s a balance to be struck and to make sure we make the right decisions.”