Help Save Immigration Aid Unit

posted: 09/07/2010

Vital legal help with immigration and asylum problems for people with HIV (and many other people) is threatened. The Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit, which gives excellent help to people with HIV, is to have its funding from the government cut. Our leading regional Immigration Aid Unit will no longer be able to provide 70% of the help that it does now.
 

Immigration aid funding cuts

The Legal Services Commission told them at the end of June that their legal aid contract will be cut from October 2010. Last month another major excellent immigration aid unit in London, Refugee and Migrant Justice, (which also had offices in Leeds, Birmingham, Newcastle and Nottingham), was forced to close down.
 

Save our Immigration Aid Unit
We can’t let this happen in Greater Manchester. The Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit (GMIAU) does exceptional work for people with HIV and immigration and asylum problems. We and they need you to help us fight this massive funding cut.
 

The GMIAU works with some of the most vulnerable people for whom the asylum system has already done an injustice. Daily they see people who have been unrepresented because they weren't able to get legal advice, or they got advice for their asylum claim but when it came to appeal their legal representative turned them away - because the work isn't 'profitable'.
See below for more details on what is happening – Statement from the Immigration Aid Unit
 

How they want you to help

This is what you can do

• Come to the public meeting at GMIAU on Monday 19th July at 6.30 pm. Everyone is welcome. GMIAU is at 1 Delaunays Road, Crumpsall Green, Manchester M8 4QS Directions, public transport travel and map here
• Contact your local MP. You can use the 'contact your politician' green and yellow box on their website. Please do it now and when you get replies email or post copies of the replies to the Immigration Aid Unit .
  Point out to your MP what a valuable service they provide and how they rely on organisations, including GMIAU, to help their constituents. Without the GMIAU their advice surgery queues will get longer and their work will become much harder. Around 1,500 people with HIV in NW England (25% of all those living with HIV), most of whom live in Greater Manchester, are not British Citizens and many of them have complex asylum and immigration problems. Get your MP to pledge their support.
• email / write to the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor
  Rt.Hon.Kenneth Clarke QC MP
  Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor
  Ministry of Justice
  102 Petty France
  London
  SW1H OAL
  email Ken Clarke through this address
• Write to the Minister for Justice
  Damian Green MP
  Minister for Immigration
  Home Office
  2 Marsham Street
  London
  SW1 4DF
• please email a copy all replies please to Denise the director of the Immigration Aid Unit
• Ask your Trade Union or Professional Body to back the campaign.
  Skilled and experienced immigration caseworkers across the country are losing their jobs as a result of cuts to legal aid for more complex cases.
• Become a supporter of GMIAU.
  Support the work of GMIAU by getting friends and colleagues to sign up as a supporter and offering to do work for us (all assistance with legal action welcome), donate or fundraise.
  Email Denise to sign up.
   

More information on campaigning for Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit
For more information please email Denise McDowell, Director  or ring 0161-741 2646.
 

Statement from the Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit
Statement about our position since the announcement of the outcome of the legal aid contracts for immigration.
 

This is the latest evidence of damage to the advice sector by the Legal Services Commission (LSC).

After three years of preparation, and several delays, the outcome of the national tendering round seems to have hinged upon whether an organisation ticked a box to say that they had applied for a level 3 caseworker to gain 1 point. This is so ludicrous as to be almost laughable. Except that of course it's not funny at all.
 

The LSC have damaged immigration legal aid beyond repair.
 

This will mean that people needing quality representation will be detrimentally affected. It will mean that there will be even more people standing unrepresented before the courts.
 

Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit remains committed to providing a high quality service to people affected by immigration control. Whilst the cut will affect the number of people we can see who are funded through legal aid we remain as committed as ever to the people we are here to serve - people affected by immigration control. Over the next few weeks and months we will be taking action to manage this situation including seeking to secure alternative funding to continue the work.
YOUR SUPPORT IS CRUCIAL.
THANK YOU

Keep on Running!

posted: 17/05/2010

We'd like to say a big thank you to all our runners who took part in this year's Great Manchester Run.  We had over 150 runners, with the fastest completing the course in an amazing 37 minutes and 34 seconds. 

We hope to raise collect £15,000 in sponsorship and it's not too late to make a donation in support of teamght - just go to www.justgiving.com/teamght

Photos now on Flickr

80 photos are now available in our 2010 Great Manchester Run Flickr gallery

Proud to Halt HIV Child Deportations

posted: 30/04/2010

It was New Year's Day 2008 when Martin Narey, head of the children’s charity Barnardo’s, opened the letter he had been waiting for. Inside were the names of 63 HIV-positive children and their families who had at last received a reprieve from the British Government. They no longer faced deportation back to Malawi and Rwanda, to an almost certain death.
 

In a candid interview before he steps down as chief executive of the children's charity Barnardo's, Mr Narey told The Independent that the letter was the proudest moment of his professional life.
The 54-year-old former head of the prison service had fought long and hard to keep the children in this country, lobbying Tony Blair to argue that it would be "cruel and inhumane" to return them to die when anti-retroviral treatment in the UK could give them a near normal life expectancy.
 

Behind the scenes
George House Trust and the Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit work closely with Barnardo’s Gregory’s Place to support HIV positive children and their families in NW England remain in the UK. He came to Barnardo's met families and staff from both organisations. We all fed him the facts and harsh realities facing HIV positive migrant children and their families.

Martin Narey instantly grasped the inhumanity of deporting HIV positive children to an early death. He used his unrivalled access to people in power and his passionate commitment to justice and care for children to win protection from removal for 63 children with HIV.
 

Manchester visit sparked action
"On a visit to one of our services in Manchester I met Josephine, a mum whose appeal against a decision not to grant her asylum had just been rejected. Josephine and her son Michael, then 14, were about to be deported to Malawi," he said. George House Trust and the Immigration Aid Unit had given expert evidence and pleaded the family’s case at the immigration tribunal.
 

"Both Josephine and her son were HIV positive. The clinical evidence I was subsequently able to read indicated that without anti-retroviral treatment in Malawi, both would die within months, whereas Josephine's life expectancy here was considerable and Michael's was essentially that of any other 14-year-old. What most shocked, upset and moved me about Josephine was not her quiet acceptance about her own death, but her abject fear over the reality that because she had a radically lower blood count she would die first and leave Michael to die on his own a few weeks or months after her.”
 

Take it to the top
"I went straight from there to the Labour conference in Manchester where I was speaking in a Fabian Debate and I spoke very frankly about what I'd seen. That got me in front of the All Party Parliamentary Group on HIV. That got questions asked at PM's Questions. That got me a meeting with Tony Blair and eventually – and to his enormous credit – a list of more than 60 children, all HIV positive, and their families were given indefinite leave to remain.
 

"The reprieve list, which was sent to me on New Year's Eve and I opened on New Year's Day 2008, was, and I suspect always will be, the best moment of my professional life."
 

Source
 

Run With Us

posted: 19/03/2010

There are just 35 Team George House Trust places left in our 150 strong team for the Great Manchester Run. Please sign up now to celebrate and fundraise in our 25th year. The Great Manchester Run - 10km - is on Sunday May 16th.

Sign up for Team GHT
We’re celebrating our 25th with our biggest Team GHT yet – in 2009 we had about 100 hundred dedicated runners. In 2010 we want 150 runners to really raise our birthday year profile and even more money for George House Trust.

Most of our funding comes with strings attached. Fundraised money, like from Great Manchester Run, means we can quickly respond to the most pressing needs and respond to changing demands. The flexibility it gives us is worth a great deal.

How to join Team GHT
To book one of the 35 remaining places please send a cheque for £34.00, payable to George House Trust.
Please write your details - name, email address, telephone number and postal address on an attached piece of paper, or on the back of the cheque.

Send your cheque and details to:
GMR 2009, Christy Lau, George House Trust, 77 Ardwick Green North, Manchester, M12 6FX

The £34.00 pays Great Manchester Run’s charges for registering you. We can refund this later, if you wish, once we have received at least £150 in sponsorship for you. However to maximise the money we raise, we hope you will meet this cost yourself.
 

What we offer Team GHT runners
All Team GHT birthday year runners are offered:

• Team GHT running vest (special this year for our 25th!)
• Free after run massage from our friends at the Active Health Group
• Training support from Manchester FrontRunners
• Safe bag and clothes storage at the Manchester Convention Centre (GMEX)
• After run party at a city centre venue, including a free buffet
• Taurus Bar are kindly providing special promotional drinks deals for all Team GHT runners
• Limited edition GHT 25th anniversary pin badges for all who bring in their sponsors money as a thank you.

We look forward to meeting everyone again for another fantastic day!

You can browse the photographs of Team GHT at the Great Manchester Run 2009 in our Flickr sets
 

Here's a YouTube clip you may enjoy

Great Manchester Run Team GHT Sign-Up

posted: 14/01/2010

Signing up to run with Team GHT at the Great Manchester Run is now open. We are very pleased to have 150 places for George House Trust runners at this year's Great Manchester 10km Run on Sunday May 16th 2010.
 

Run with us for our 25th anniversary
We want a big turnout of runners and sponsor supporters this year as 2010 is our 25th anniversary. Sponsor money is gives us vital support for providing quality services to people living with HIV in North West England.
 

Let’s top last year’s £11,000 – target £15,000
Sponsors and team GHT runners last year raised a fantastic £11,000 and our target is £15,000 this year. So please join Team GHT and support us in this very special year!

What we offer everyone in Team GHT:

• Team GHT running vest (special this year for our 25th!)
• Free after run massage from our friends at the Active Health Group
• Training support from Manchester FrontRunners
• Safe bag and clothes storage at the Manchester Convention Centre (GMEX)
• After run party at a city centre venue, including a free buffet

Team GHT Places are open to all runners, including people wanting to run with Team GHT for their first time.
 

Book your place now
To book one of our 150 running places please send a cheque for £34.00, payable to George House Trust.
Please write your details - name, email address, telephone number and postal address on an attached piece of paper, or on the back of the cheque.
 

Send your cheque and details to:
 

GMR 2009, Christy Lau, George House Trust, 77 Ardwick Green North, Manchester, M12 6FX
 

The £34.00 pays Great Manchester Run’s charges for registering you.
We can refund this later, if you wish, once we have received at least £150 in sponsorship for you. However to maximise the money we raise, we hope you will meet this cost yourself.
 

Some free places
There are a limited number of free places for people who are cannot afford the £34 entry fee.
If you need a free place, please contact Katherine before 28 February. 0161 274 4499 or email Katherine katherine@ght.org.uk We will pull free place names out of a hat and tell you whether or not we can offer a free place in the run.
 

Already signed up with Great Manchester Run?
If you have already got a place on the Run through the Great Manchester Run online registration page (too late now to try except for chances in their ballot) and want to run with Team GHT, please call Katherine or email her with your details 0161 274 4499 or email Katherine katherine@ght.org.uk. We will keep you informed about sponsorship arrangements and arrangements we are making for Team GHT runners.

We look forward to meeting everyone again for another fantastic day!

In the meantime, check out photographs of Team GHT at last year's Great Manchester Run on Flickr