Boaz Trust's Urgent Appeal for Volunteers

posted: 21/06/2011

The BOAZ Trust here in Manchester often finds hosts for GHT's destitute service users. Hosts are people with a spare room and big hearts! Some hosts take guests for a few days or weeks and others more long term.

GHT supports a number of men and women who are living with HIV who are homeless and literally destitute. They are people who have unsuccessfully applied for asylum. they live with the
constant fear that they may be forcibly returned to their country of origin where they may face torture or imprisonment and will struggle to get the ARV's thet they need to stay well and alive.

If you are interested in finding out more about being a Boaz host, contact Cat at the Boaz office on 0161 202 1056 or hosting@boaztrust.org.uk She will be happy to answer your questions and to arrange to meet with you to discuss the hosting process.

Training - No Recourse to Public Funds

posted: 20/05/2011

No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) Training will be provided in Manchester on Tuesday 7th June (10am – 4.30pm) for Local Authority representatives with responsibilities for people with NRPF.

There will be NRPF training specifically for the voluntary sector in London, on 10th June. Details about Voluntary Sector NRPF Training are here

Voluntary sector people are also welcome at the Manchester training but in Manchester the training focuses on social services assessments.

This training is provided by the No Recourse to Public Funds network.

Limited places available

The cost of the training is £125 per person and will take place at Manchester City Council. Limited places are available. To book a place, please complete the booking form and return it to No Recourse to Public Funds at Islington. The training terms and conditions are here.

The Manchester training for local authority workers covers key issues, legislation and social services assessments, for adults, children and families, and includes human rights obligations.
 

• No recourse to public funds - introduction and overview
• Key legislation
• Assessing eligibility for support
• General considerations in assessments of need - adults, children and families, human rights
• Community care and community mental health assessments
• Child in need and human rights assessments
• Good practice in assessing and supporting people with NRPF
• National NRPF Network and the policy context of NRPF
• Case studies

Booking Form

Terms and Conditions

Enquiries and bookings to nrpf@islington.gov.uk

More information on the No Recourse to Public Funds training programme for Local Authorities

More information on the No Recourse to Public Funds training programme for Voluntary Sector

More information on No Recourse to Public Funds from the network

More information on No Recourse to Public Funds from UK Border Agency
 

Job restrictions for asylum seekers?

posted: 30/07/2010

UPDATED 23 August

New Immigration Rules following the Supreme Court's decision will begin on 9 September and updated guidance has been produced by the UKBA

After the Supreme Court decision we reported yesterday allowing some 'legacy case' asylum seekers to apply for permissiion to work, Home Office ministers are now trying to limit the jobs these 45,000 asylum seekers could take.

The immigration minister, Damian Green, wants to stop asylum seekers from taking most jobs and restrict them to types of work where the government has said there are official shortages.

Home Office officials are investigating the possibility of telling asylum seekers they can apply only for vacancies among 400,000 skilled jobs in shortage occupations – a tiny fraction of almost 30 million jobs in the UK economy.
 

Some teaching, engineering, welding, dancing jobs only
Asylum seekers would have to be qualified maths teachers, chemical engineers, high-integrity pipe welders, experienced orchestral musicians, or ballet dancers or have other unusual skills to have any hope of being given permission to work. The jobs are the same as the types of jobs open to migrants from outside Europe wanting to work in the UK under the new points-based immigration system.
 

This week's supreme court ruling said refused asylum seekers who made a second fresh claim for refugee status should be allowed to work if they had waited more than 12 months for a UKBA decision.
 

The Supreme Court ruling applies a EU directive which set minimum standards for how asylum seekers are treated throughout Europe, so asylum seekers are treated with basic dignity. The Supreme Court rejected the home secretary's case that this group of asylum seekers should not have this protection because their first application had been rejected.
 

10 years of 'right to work' campaigning
Refugee welfare groups have been fighting for more than 10 years to lift the ban on asylum seekers being allowed to work in Britain while their applications are decided. This is the first time the courts have backed the principle.
 

Immigration barristers say the ruling will mean that tens of thousands of failed asylum seekers whose fresh applications are grinding their way through the system will be entitled to basic rights, including the right to work. The court said any problem with undeserving cases should be dealt with by deciding them quickly rather than by punishing them by depriving them of their fundamental rights.
 

45,000 of the ‘legacy cases’
The Home Office says that up to 45,000 refused asylum seekers are likely to be affected by the ruling. Many of them are among the 450,000 "legacy cases", some dating back more than 10 years, which the Home Office is working through in a backlog exercise.
Immigration minister Green confirmed his intention to severely restrict the jobs open to asylum seekers who have waited more than a year for a decision. He said: "I believe it is important to maintain a distinction between economic migration and asylum – giving failed asylum seekers access to the labour market undermines this principle." He claimed the ruling would have only a short-term effect as "the long delays in the asylum system will be resolved by the summer of next year when all the older asylum cases are concluded".
 

Disbelief at plan to clear 450,000 backlog within 12 months
It is hard to see how all these legacy cases can possibly be decided by next summer. The private company Serco has just lost its £15m contract with the UK Border Agency (UKBA) which was to help clear the huge backlog in legacy asylum claims, amid allegations that the system is in complete chaos.

Serco was given the contract last year to speed up clerical work and help caseworkers clear the backlog of 450,000 asylum cases. Many of the cases date from the mid-1990s. The plan was that with Serco's help the entire backlog would be dealt with by 2012. But complaints started to come in almost immediately that Serco’s work was slowing the system down. According to one insider, there were too many inaccuracies and omissions by Serco.

UKBA staff have now been told that the work is to be returned to UKBA civil servants. So far, it seems, only about 200,000 legacy cases have been dealt with and the system remains in chaos. At the same time as the announcement that the work is being taken back by UKBA, a leaked memo from the coalition government reveals plans to axe 7,000 UK Border Agency jobs - 1,700 this financial year. How the UKBA will be able to deal with new asylum cases, not to mention the scandalous backlog, with a third fewer staff, remains to be seen.
 

Home Office job restrictions plan ‘disappointing’
Jonathan Ellis, director of policy and development at the Refugee Council, said the Home Office's response to the ruling was "disappointing". "The supreme court ruled that this group of asylum seekers has the right to work under EU law – the government should not then limit this right down to a small number of asylum seekers who meet the requirements for national shortage occupations."
 

"The shortage occupation list is not designed for asylum seekers but rather economic migrants needing sponsorship to come to the UK. Asylum seekers who have waited so long for a decision should be allowed to work for local employers whenever their skills are needed."
 

Source
with additional material about Serco from Private Eye 1267, 23rd July – 5th August 2010

More Asylum Seekers Can Work

posted: 29/07/2010

UPDATED 23 August

New Immigration Rules following the Supreme Court's decision will begin on 9 September and updated guidance has been produced by the UKBA

People who have been waiting for a decision on their asylum claim for more than one year now have the legal right to work, even when they have made a fresh claim. People applying for asylum are not normally allowed to work. If people seeking asylum are still waiting for the first decision on their claim for 12 months or more, then they can ask for permission to work. Few people wait this long for the first decision on asylum claims so this rule does not help many people to work.

But yesterday the Supreme Court opened the door to many more people. It ruled that people who have made a fresh claim for asylum have the same right, if they have waited 12 months or more in total for a decision on their first and a later fresh claim.
 

Campaign Success

This is excellent news for many asylum seekers with HIV and other asylum seekers who do not want to be dependant on the state, but who are keen to work and use their skills to support themselves and their families.George House Trust has supported the national campaign for the right to work and welcomes the decision of the Supreme Court.
 

The Supreme Court was politely but firmly dismissive and critical of the Home Secretary’s weak case. The previous Secretary of State Alan Johnson, decided to appeal against the Court of Appeal’s ruling in April last year which first allowed the right to work.

In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court has now recognised that people who have submitted new evidence to support their claim for asylum (a 'fresh claim'), and who have waited longer than 12 months for a Home Office decision on their initial claim, should be given permission to work.
 

Thanks to EU

This is because they are included within the EU ‘Reception Directive’ from the time their application first application was sent in. The Reception Directive says that an asylum seeker can apply for permission to work if they have not had a decision on their claim from the Home Office after 12 months.
 

The Supreme Court dismissed the Secretary of State’s arguments that a fresh application for asylum does not fall within the EU's Reception Directive. The Court said it didn’t accept that this would lead to a rush of unmerited fresh applications being made, and that anyway denying people their right to work was not the proper way to prevent that happening.
 

Welcome for judgement

Jonathan Ellis, Chief Executive of the Refugee Council said:
“We welcome the Supreme Court’s decision to accept that an asylum seeker who has submitted a fresh claim for asylum should be given permission to work after they have waited twelve months for a decision on their claim. The appeal by the former Secretary of State against the Court of Appeal’s decision that this person should be allowed to work, has wasted valuable time and resources at time when asylum seekers should have been supported to get on with their lives rather than face destitution.
 

“The vast majority of asylum seekers who come to the UK would rather support themselves through work than be forced to be homeless or to rely on Government support. Denying asylum seekers the chance to work means they cannot contribute to the UK economy and condemns asylum seekers and their families to abject poverty. We would urge the government to ensure those who have submitted fresh claims for asylum will now be granted support and permission to work under this ruling immediately.”
 

Get advice first before working

People who think they now have the right to work should seek advice from their immigration adviser about applying for permission to work. People are not allowed to simply start working.

Source
Press summary of Judgment - produced by the Supreme Court 
 

The full Supreme Court judgment is not yet available on the court's website - search here later for [2010] UKSC 36  
 

Benefit Reform Backlash

posted: 01/12/2008

Gordon Brown is facing a growing backlash against Labour's welfare reforms, which will give private companies a greater role in moving the unemployed back to work, as some of Britain's biggest unions join anti-poverty campaigners in a new national campaign against the plans.
 

As the prime minister pledged over the weekend to respond to the economic downturn by speeding up the reform of public services, the new campaign warned that a "draconian" welfare policy was not the right one in a recession.

HIV impacts
The reforms will be one of the key elements of the government's legislative programme to be outlined in Wednesday's Queen's speech to parliament. The main reform to affect people living with HIV is the review and transfer of all existing claimants on Incapacity Benefit (paid for long term illhealth or disability) to the new benefit Employment Support Allowance. The tests for receiving this for long term sickness are significantly tougher. The government's intention is to reduce the number claiming for long term sickness or disability by about 1 million. These one million will either have to find work (very difficult as unemployment rises in a recession) or claim Job Seekers Allowance - about £20 a week less. People on this have under £9 a day income. Another element of the reforms is to part-privatise job seeker support services. The fear is that the "harder cases" such as people with long term unpredictable health conditions and those with stigmatised conditions will be left behind. The contracts for job seeker support services pay by results and there are tough penalties for failure. In the recesssion the companies will be driven by the contract penalties to cherrypick the easiest cases.

Campaigners against the welfare reforms, led by the centre-left pressure Compass and unions including Unison and the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), said: "Many of the plans were unacceptable when they were first published and the worsening economic situation should lead to a fundamental rethink."

Brown said yesterday that the details in the Queen's speech were the "biggest New Labour project of all" and rejected claims that the government's plans to raise the higher rate of tax to 45p marked the end of New Labour. "Doing nothing is not an option," Brown told the Progress conference in London. "This is the biggest New Labour project of all: to give people confidence and hope that we can build through this downturn into a better economy and society. It will mean not a slowing down of reform but only a stepping up in the pace of reform."

The welfare reform plans, based on a report by the city financier David Freud, have been in the pipeline for some time. Government sources said the changes in approach to the long-term unemployed were more necessary than ever.

But the new campaign group is alarmed about a drift to the right in attitudes to the jobless and has seized on warnings by the government's own advisers, the social security advisory committee, to suspend plans to force single mothers with children under 12 to seek work or face benefit cuts.

source