The consequences of our failure on Refugees

Last year’s Nationality and Borders Act will increase pressure on Home Office services and further worsen waits as the review period for the right to remain after a positive asylum decision has reduced from five years to two years. As it takes 10 years to have the right to apply to become a citizen, this has effectively increased the Home Office workload for those en route to citizenship by 250%.

The failure of the state to properly support the poorest and most in need is becoming a feature of the 500 small local charities we support – whoever they reach. Queues and waiting lists are now commonplace. Charities are finding innovative ways to address them - but they only mask the scale and volume of demand as the cost of living crisis bites the poorest the hardest.

For those reaching refugees, this is compounded by the hostile environment whipped up as we move into election mode, with refugees as pawns in a political minefield that neither main party seems prepared to address with any compassion. But the growth in numbers is a problem of our own making as the rise in those waiting for asylum decisions shows. No one wants to wait in limbo for years on £45 per week with no right to work.

For those who do get positive decisions, support is limited. Those who don’t are left destitute with no recourse to public funds.

Many of the issues PAFRAS addresses are around basic needs – especially around the quality of accommodation, and most in privately owned HMOs (houses of multiple occupation) of a very poor standard. Leaks and vermin are commonplace. This will be made worse if planned legislative changes to HMOs go ahead. These propose to temporarily suspend HMO licensing, designed to provide a minimum level of protection for asylum seeker accommodation, leaving rogue landlords open to provide what they wish.

But many of the needs of refugees are complex and PAFRAS refers to and works alongside other local partners. All will need legal representation to navigate a complex immigration system. This is increasingly hard to secure as the number of legal aid lawyers working in this area of practice has dramatically declined as funding in this space has itself declined.

Many will need psychological support to address the trauma that drove them from their homes in the first place. A few years ago, I visited SOLACE in Leeds – a local charity partner to PAFRAS – who provide a range of psychotherapeutic approaches to those who have witnessed or experienced torture and murder.

The treatment of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK often retraumatises them. We’re stepping up our support for refugees in limbo through our national, regional, and local influencing work. Our programmes seek to support organisations and local collaborations campaigning for better ways to support refugees and asylum seekers from destitution through funding and support to develop.

Over the years I have visited many similar charities to PAFRAS in the many dispersal towns and cities for refugees. What defines them all is their sense of hope and passion for those they seek to support. They remain resolutely upbeat about what they can do to change lives, in spite of the hostile environment.

I believe this because of people I meet at these visits - and the tens of thousands like them from across the world - who retain their hope they can find a way through to a better life. Why else would they get on an inflatable across the Channel? Perhaps it’s because they can contrast what, to many of us would be an intolerable way of life in the UK, with the horrors they have left behind. This sense of hope against all the odds is something we so desperately need. This is why, as a nation, we need to do more for refugees.