Asylum Right to Work Campaign
posted: 28/06/2010
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.
George House Trust and the community HIV sector strongly support extending the right to work after six months. This was one of the recommendations in NAT’s 2006 report HIV and Poverty: Findings from the Crusaid Hardship Fund. Working is a really simple and effective way to help reducing poverty among asylum seekers and show respect for people’s autonomy and personal dignity.
If the government changed the rules, taxpayers will be saved from paying benefits to support people who are able to and want to work, but aren’t allowed to. It means that working asylum seekers won’t need to turn to charity to get by. And those who are allowed to stay in the UK will find it much easier to become part of British society if they’ve already been given a chance to work.
Asylum seekers are amongst the vulnerable people in our society, and many are affected by HIV. Over a quarter of Crusaid Hardship Fund grants between 2006 and 2009 were paid to asylum seekers. Some of these applicants received Section 95 or Section 4 support, some relied on friends and family, and others had no support at all. All asylum seekers with HIV experience severe poverty, and poverty always has bad effects on people’s health.
You can support the campaign by emailing your MP and asking your MP to sign a declaration in favour of giving asylum seekers the right to work after 6 months. Simply enter your postcode in the box at this 38 Degrees campaign webpage
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