Current Support for Asylum-seeking and Refugee Children and Young People in London

FINAL DRAFT1 Nov 2016,

This is an outline of the situation in London in 2016, and we have written it to help with general awareness and for quick reference when people who support young refugees are looking for helpful contacts. Immigration law and young refugees' entitlements are complex and change constantly. Each child or young person’s experiences and needs are unique. You must find professional support and advice and make it available to your teams or volunteers if they are directly supporting individual young refugees. The information here is an overview and does not contain a comprehensive list of services but aims to give a snap shot of some sources of support.

Why map services for young refugees?Asylum seeking and refugee (ASR) children and young people (young refugees) often have complex and diverse needs. They may be highly vulnerable and very many of them live in poverty; whether they are with families or 'unaccompanied'. Substantial numbers live in London, and from mid-2015 the number of children and young people arriving each quarter has nearly doubled. At the same time, and progressively since 2009, cuts in public funding have meant the number, spread and capacity of specialist support services provided by the voluntary and community sector (VCS) and/or specialist statutory services, have reduced sharply leaving gaps across the region. Young refugees use and are referred to a wide range of other children's and young people's (CYP) services and specialists in other fields including; mental health, housing, advice services among others. Many of whom do not have expertise in working with young refugees and staff have to cope with unfamiliar and complex needs on a case by case basis, or seek out specialist advice in a constantly changing environment.

1. Scope and diversity

This overview of services concentrates on support for young refugees from teens to 25, and includes services for those with families and young refugees who are unaccompanied or separated from family support.

Young refugees, who have fled persecution and war to seek safety in the UK, may struggle with the consequences of their experiences: of war, trauma, aggressive discrimination and persecution, of loss/ separation/ bereavement. There may be long term consequences for them from their journey: the impact of insecurity, smuggling and trafficking; from their experience of being inside the British asylum system including interviews, age disputes and being subject to deportation. They may face identity dilemmas and struggle with attachment and integration. Young refugees' current immigration status defines their entitlements and security (See Appendices 2 + 4), particularly from the time they reach 17 years, although children are protected first and foremost by Children’s legislation which 'trumps' Immigration law. Unaccompanied children seeking asylum (UCSA or UASC) who are in need or looked after/in care have the same rights as any looked-after child from 17-25UK, but move into the adult asylum process from 17 upwards. There is some protection for disabled people under Health and Social Care legislation but it is often problematic to access (see Appendix 3).

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There is a great deal of diversity among young refugees, with different rights, entitlements, struggles and opportunities. It is important that people supporting them are aware of how significant some of these differences can be, and how fast they can change especially between 17 and 18 years

Key considerations

Being Under 17 years or 17 years or 18+ years or age disputed:

Implications: Young people under 17s are protected by Child legislation; Young people aged 17 years if unaccompanied and with

discretionary leave to remain or ‘UASC Leave’ may be subject to deportation at 17.5 years, also in transition from Care;

Young people aged 18+ enter the adult asylum process in own right, even if previously covered by parents’ status;

Age disputed young refugees entitlements are determined by the older estimate of age pending an age ruling.

Being with family supportor without family support in the UK

Implications: With family support includes caring roles in the family; Without family support in the UK is ‘unaccompanied’, may be

Looked After, in foster care and transition from Care, private fostering.

Being still in the asylum process or having received ‘a positive decision’ and thus having some form of ‘Leave to Remain’ or having been 'refused' asylum (Appendix 2).

Note - A young person who has been trafficked or is escaping forced marriage can claim asylum while her or his case is considered

Implications: Asylum Seekers (including those in the appeal process) cannot

work; financial and housing support is minimal and conditional; there is no legal aid for asylum claims, even for young unaccompanied children;

With Leave to Remain young people can work and access mainstream benefits including Housing Benefit (App4).

Refused they are often subject to deportation, may have continuing rights if previously Looked After, otherwise destitute, can receive minimal support in vouchers if they agree to deportation;

Trafficked / Forced Marriage if trafficked/escaping force marriage may be fast tracked through the asylum decision process.

Other common and significant diverse characteristics

Speaking English or not, Level of previous education, including literacy own language Time since arrival / time in asylum process, Experiences in Country of Origin: e.g. Eritrea, Afghan, Syrian, Race / ethnicity, Sexuality/sexual orientation Gender, especially combined with culture/ethnicity Pregnancy and Maternity, Disability including mental health, Parent/s’ abilities to cope and nurture

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2. How Many Young Refugees are in the UK and London and where?

Until 2015 between 2,000(1) and 3,000(2) unaccompanied young people, predominantly males, claimed asylum in the UK per year. From mid-2015, the numbers arriving have been growing fast.

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Including those within families, Barnardo’s has estimated that in 2002-2008 the total number of CYP arriving, including UCSA, was nearer 7000 per year4. Figures for dependents within families excluding UCSA in 2014 were over 7,200 and likely to be higher in 2015-16. Barnardo’s also urges services to remember in their planning that statistics only show arrivals, and many refugee families have babies after arriving in the UK. Being born in the UK does not give a right to residency so Immigration constraints and process still apply. Also children born here are growing up with a parent/s or /in families fundamentally affected by the consequences of flight and seeking asylum. After initial increases in the number of males arriving in 2015, recent numbers indicate an increasing proportion of women and families with children.

There has been speculation1&5 that unknown numbers of young refugees - with adults and unaccompanied - may be in the UK, especially London, but remain invisible ‘irregular’ or ‘undocumented’ as they doubt they have a good case for asylum, or more recently may be delaying claiming asylum because under current regulations it is likely they would be subject to deportation back to the first country they were registered in in the EU. If (when) this situations changes it is possible that a substantial number of currently invisible young refugees and people as well as adults, who are already in the UK will claim asylum. The number of Home Office decisions about granting Refugee status or other leave to remain is dropping at the same time as numbers arriving are growing3, resulting in more young people and adults supporting children who will be waiting longer in limbo within the asylum process, unable to work, with minimal support and few options, insecure about their future.

There is no reliable overall source of statistics on where asylum-seekers and refugees live. Unaccompanied young people mostly present/claim asylum in Kent, London Borough of Hillingdon (Heathrow c.800/year) and Croydon, where the Home Office ‘Lunar House’ processes initial claims for asylum. Both Hillingdon and Croydon have some accommodation for UCSA. Hillingdon fosters about 300/year, many in other London boroughs or the South East. Young asylum seekers presenting in Croydon are allocated across London boroughs in a rota system. With Kent services at breaking point and strong lobbying for 3,000+ unaccompanied children to be settled in the UK (See Appendix 5 – refused by Parliament on 25th April 2016), the Home Office is planning to introduce dispersal of UCSA to Local Authorities across the whole UK, though Kent, Croydon and Hillingdon are likely to continue having responsibility for large numbers.

Regarding young asylum-seekers with parent/s, a larger proportion are ‘dispersed’ for housing outside London. Those who do not request housing, or who have leave to remain, and can enter the private rented sector, very often remain in or return to London.

After scandals up to 2011 about detaining children, very few are now held in detention or removal centres, although they are still held when family members are resisting or expected to resist deportation4 (Appendix 5). Some young males reaching 17.5 / 18+years, including some previously Looked After and age-disputed young people are held in Harmondsworth Removal Centre near Heathrow, pending deportation (April 2016).

Home Office data on the gender of asylum seekers is only available once per year. Data on gender should be available from the Refugee Council website in November 2016. www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/stats.

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3. An Overview of Organisations supporting Young Refugees in London

This section gives an overview of the range of kinds of organisations who currently serve young refugees in London, from highly specialist to those serving a broader population but still highly relevant to and accessed by young refugees.

Appendix 6 lists Key organisations with short descriptions and contact details Appendix 7 lists 'Other Highly Relevant Organisations' and contact details.

Across refugee-specialist services, capacity and accessibility have dropped sharply since 2009, with not only services, projects and branches closing, but whole organisations. Young refugees and support workers must search broadly and make the most of services they can access. Some non-refugee specialist bodies have developed new expertise and professional networks so they can respond to the needs of young refugees. REAP believes it is good practice to involve a combination of refugee specialists and non-refugee services when supporting refugees, to aid sector-wide awareness and facilitate integration and equality. Voluntary sector organisations can no longer afford simply to state ‘We don’t do refugees’6.

In addition, young refugees often exercise active agency in seeking diverse sources of support. Many value trust and personal relationships over specialist knowledge, also accessibility and flexible availability, as they develop multi-stranded coping strategies that may involve building relationships with multiple services. Their willingness to seek new connections outside ‘refugee’ bodies is affected by personal concerns about identity and labelling7.

Capacity, availability of services and waiting lists

Capacity is a serious concern, and it is difficult to get and collate a meaningful picture of how many young refugees can and are being helped adequately per year across London. Although there are many small, specialist organisations often involved in niche case work or campaigning, these are often very small, with one or two part-time staff, relying on inconsistent funding, committed volunteers and pro bono work. Day Centres and Drops Ins may only operate half a day a week or once a month. There is clearly a very diverse range of services across London, but many are only local. Smaller local projects often have eligibility restrictions imposed by funders based on where people live, or on immigration status.

Specialist therapeutic service, Baobab, can see fewer than 100 young refugees per year. Action for Refugees in Lewisham - a community support charity for refugees in a borough with

one of the highest refugee populations in Britain, helps about 120 people per year. Hillingdon Refugee Support Group has worked with their largest number of unaccompanied

young people in the past year, at close to 240, but this is in a borough where 800+ present each year.

Some legal advice, homelessness or other specialist services have simply had to refuse new referrals at times in the past 2-3 years, though optimising strong communication networks between specialists to ameliorate this. Support by other providers such as secondary schools and FE colleges is probably substantial, though hard to identify.

Referral routes appear to be in place across London for the most specialist support (such as support for trafficked children). Waiting lists have always been a major issue for more specialist support, e.g. access to specialist family counselling with Freedom from Torture. Young refugees may have support from other services e.g. Mind, and CAB, whilst waiting for specialists. But it is difficult to get a sense of

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whether young refugees with less critical needs can connect to all the services they need or choose, whether because of eligibility, knowledge, or capacity.

Information and publicity about new services or shorter term projects is often not widely available and finding out seems often to depend on knowing who to ask, so that certain informal information ‘hubs’ e.g. Lewisham RMN, RAMFEL, Migrants Organising (MRCF), and their ability to respond to requests are very important.

While REAP and Engage London have made every effort to gather accurate information from and about appropriate and relevant organisations, we do not have the capacity to judge or verify the legitimacy or quality of the organisation or its work. The situation changes fast and details go out of date quickly. The list is provided to give an overview of the kinds of support currently available, and to provide some starting points for your own research and networking. That a particular organisation or organisations are included in the list/Appendices does not imply a recommendation.

Key Organisations specialising in working with young refugees (See Appendix 6 Key organisations with short descriptions and contact details (See Appendix 7 'Other Highly Relevant Organisations' and contact details.

There are certain key organisations active in London and nationally that have specialist services and expertise in a wide range of support for young refugees, from direct services right through to research and Parliamentary lobbying: The Children’s Society, Barnado’s, Coram Children’s Legal Centre, Freedom from Torture, Helen Bamber Foundation, Red Cross, Refugee Council (Children’s Section).

Many smaller bodies in London are also key specialists in supporting young refugees In specific fields; Baobab Therapeutic Centre, Kazzum Arts, Refugee Support Network, Young

Roots In a local area; CARAS, DOST, Hillingdon Refugee Support Group (HRSG), Salusbury World

Refugee Centre, Specialist statutory bodies; Local Authorities Social Services teams in Hillingdon and

Croydon, Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, CNWL Forced Migration Trauma Service

Specialists in supporting Asylum-Seekers and Refugees

Several refugee organisations have built services and expertise to support young refugees, or run adult services that are highly relevant to/ accessed by young refugees:

It can be useful to distinguish between London-wide/National; Asylum Aid, Asylum Support Appeals Project (ASAP), Children and

Families Across Borders (CFAB), Medecins du Monde, Micro-Rainbow, Still Human-Still Here, UKLGIG

Area-based/ local bodies: Action for Refugees in Lewisham (AFRIL), Barnet Refugee Service, Brent Refugee Forum, CARAS, Croydon Refugee Day Centre, Hackney and Islington Refugee Forum, Lewisham Refugee and Migrant Network (LRMN), Merton and Wandsworth Asylum Welcome, Migrants Organising/MRCF, Notre Dame Refugee Centre, Praxis, RAMFEL, Refugee Action Kingston, Sante Refugee MH Access Project, Southwark Refugee Forum,

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Community organisations based on social identity, sometimes called Refugee or Migrant and Refugee Community Organisations (RCO / MRCO) include some focus on young refugees. RCOs may provide social and more practical support, supplementary schools, advice, but may be aligned politically or socially with certain groups including age and economic groups or groups with a shared social attitude e.g. to sexuality. It may be inappropriate to refer young refugees to ‘their community’ (a local RCO with the same ethnic label), as if these are value-neutral, universally accessible groups. However many of these RCOs do provide holistic and professional support over a long time and are a valuable part of young refugees selectively building wider support networks. e.g. Afghanistan and Central Asian Association (ACAA), Centre for Armenian Information and Advice/CAIA, Horn of Africa Youth Association/HAYA, Paiwand (Afghan Association), Sfida, Shpresa Programme, Tamil Community Centre.

Migrant’ or ‘newly arrived communities’ services can be highly relevant, while also serving e.g. EU migrants, in particular people from the EU Accession countries. ii) Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) bodies and projects, tackling cultural issues such as BME unemployment, FGM or Equality/anti-racism can be relevant. E.g. Migrant Advisory and Advocacy Service (Southall Legal Centre), Migrant Resource Centre (merging with Asylum Aid May 2016) Aaina Women’s group, Croydon BME Forum, Ealing Equality Centre, Forward (anti-FGM), GOYA, Harrow Equalities Centre, Imkaan, JCORE, Southwark Muslim Women’s Association, Naz Project, and Race Equality Foundation

Not all ‘migrant’ or BME organisations and projects are aware of or able to respond to specific needs of refugees, e.g. details on entitlements, how to get qualifications verified, impact of earlier traumas.

Many children and young people’s (CYP) specialists have opened up special services, or adapted more general services for young people to respond better to young refugees: Action for Children, Asphaleia, Barnardo’s, Children’s Society, Coram Children’s Legal Centre, Hope for the Young (Omid International), Just for Kids Law, Mosaic LGBT Youth, Navigator/P3, Save the Children, Seasons for Growth, YMCAs in West London, City, & Central, as well as FE Colleges.

Other bodies and specialists in their fields

Specialists in several other fields currently serve young refugees, e.g. legal or benefits advice, mental health, housing, destitution, women and girls, maternity, faith organisations. See Section 4.

a) Local clusters and geographical spread - There are cluster points across London where a number of organisations and projects for young refugees are close together facilitating mutual good referral, partnerships and combinations of support over time.

b) Services through partnership on the ground - Many services and projects are provided through collaboration or partnership on the ground between refugee and/or CYP and local bodies. An example of this is Micro Rainbow supports young LGBT people and Refugees into Jobs (merged with Refugee Council in 2010) who provide employment support to Micro Rainbow members. Another example is Lewisham Refugee and Migrant Network and Project 17 with the Latin American Women’s Rights Services.

c) ‘2nd tier’ training, publications, resources, professional-to-professional advice. Specialist organisations often provide valuable secondary support including; training, guidance and resources to hands-on staff in non-specialists; Coram Children’s Legal Centre, Freedom from Torture, Refugee Council. Specialists also host consortia e.g. Refugee Children’s

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Consortium electronic networks and ‘Google groups’ e.g. RefEd@yahoogroups.com, or other networking and collaboration relevant to young refugees e.g. Women’s Asylum Network email network. (These may be invitation only)

d) Certain funders have given valuable support to small and large projects for young refugees; Awards for All/Lotteries, Children in Need, Tudor Trust, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Reaching Communities/Lotteries, Trust for London and Comic Relief among others. Partnerships have gained from backing from supportive funders; Trust for London, Esmee Fairbairn, City Bridge, notably in the Strategic Legal Fund set up to fund test cases that will challenge and develop case law to protect young refugees.

e) ‘3rd tier’ Research, campaigning - Several specialist organisations combine service delivery with research and campaigning e.g. The Children’s Society, Refugee Council, Some bodies specialise in campaigning e.g. JCORE, Jesuit Refugee Service. Campaigning organisations almost always strengthened their voices by working in collaboration, consortia or partnership with other specialists e.g. Refugee Children’s Consortium, Immigration Legal Practitioners Association/ILPA.

4. Organisations Addressing Young Refugee’s different needs and issues

This Section gives examples of organisations serving young refugee’s different needs and issues.

a) Young Refugees and immigration status, legal advice, including trafficking/status, appeals, detention, deportation, including influence/lobbying based on case work; ASAP, CFAB, Cardinal Hume Centre, Coram, ECPAT, ILPA, Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, Just for Kidz Law, Migrant Advisory and Advocacy Service, Migrant Rights Network, Navigator/P3, Refugee Council, RAMFEL, Strategic Legal Fund for Vulnerable Young Migrants, Also Community Law Centres.

b) Young Refugees, Money and Subsistence Money and National Asylum Support Service (NASS) applications, Benefits,

Financial Support for Destitute Asylum-seekers and Refused Asylum-seekers (See section above and also CAB

Housing and homelessness, surviving destitution e.g. SAP, Cardinal Hume Centre (Hostel), Centrepoint, Homeless Link, RAMFEL, Salvation Army, Food Banks, Clothing donations e.g. at Childrens Centres/Homestarts, Drop in Sessions at Churches, Synagogues (New North London, Liberal Jewish), and many Housing Associations

c) Young Refugees: The whole child / holistic and follow on ‘wrap round’ support e.g. Cardinal Hume Centre, DOST, Hillingdon Refugee Support Group, Refugee Day Centre West Croydon, some Housing Associations e.g. Catalyst/Catalyst Gateway.

Unaccompanied Children Seeking Asylum (UCSA), Care, Age Disputes e.g. British Association of Social Workers (lobbying), Coram, Hillingdon Refugee Support Group, Just for Kids Law, Refugee Council, Young Roots,

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d) Young Refugees Health, Mental health, Social equality and inclusion

Trauma, Torture, Recovering from trafficking, Counselling, Psychiatric reports for legal appeals e.g. Baobab, CNWL Forced Migration Trauma Service, Freedom from Torture, Helen Bamber Foundation, Sante, Refugee Therapy Centre, Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust,

Mental health / wellbeing, preventing isolation, adjustment, inclusion, engagement, community life, life skills, peers, mentors e.g. Eg. ACAA, DOST, Evangelical Church The Spirit of the Lord, Hackney City Farm, Hope for Youth, Football for Hope Peace and Unity, Fotosynthesis, Kazzum Arts Project, MIND, Red Cross Befriending, Salusbury World Refugee Centre, St. Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace (new project), We Day (aim to start soon), YMCA-WL, Young Minds,

Physical Health and Disability, HIV, Pregnancy/maternity, Caring

Sex and sexuality, sexual identity, LGBT e.g. centred, Micro-Rainbow, Mosaic LGBY Youth, UKLGIG,

Asylum-hate, racial harassment, racism, hate crime, ‘Prevent’ e.g. Barnardo’s, JCore

ESOL, Education, Training, Youth Employment / Employability e.g. ACAA, Asphaleia, Barnet Refugee Service, HAYA, Migrants Resource Centre, Refugee Project Croydon, Also Colleges of FE, Supplementary Schools,

f) Related specialists’ fields: FGM; Forward, Trafficking; Afruca, ECPAT, Poppy Project, Wome; Aaina, Asylum Aid, Imkaan, LewishamRMN, Refugee Council-Women’s section, Women for Refugee Women, Women and Girls Network, WAST-Women Asylum Seekers Together in London

Endnotes1 Coram Children’s Legal Centre2 Children’s Society, The3 Refugee Council digests of Home Office Asylum statistics, see App54 Barnado’s, See App55 Discussion with Homelessness Charity ‘Trinity Homelessness Projects’ April 20166 Women’s Resource Centre, National Equality Partnership, REAP (2010): ‘One Plus One –

Supporting Frontline Organisations to Work Effectively with Refugees.7 Discussion with Hillingdon Refugee Support Group. Discussions with Youth workers in ‘Diversity’

Project (now ended)/WL-YMCA.

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AppendicesApp1 AcronymsApp2 Pragmatic Definitions of ‘Refugee’App3 Entitlements for Disabled Asylum Seekers (HEAR - pending)App4 Entitlements and Immigration Status – for quick reference, not guidance.App5 Links to key websites and news stories at April 2016App6 Spreadsheet listing Key Organisations with brief description and contacts (alphabetical)App7 Spreadsheet listing Other Highly Relevant Organisations with brief description and contacts

(alphabetical)

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App1 Acronyms

ASR Asylum Seekers/ing and Refugee/s CYP Children and Young PeopleMRCO Migrant and Refugee Community OrganisationNASS National Asylum Support ServiceRCO Refugee Community (Identity-based) OrganisationUCSA (You will also see ‘UASC’) Unaccompanied Child Seeking Asylum

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App2 Pragmatic, working definitions for ‘refugee’

Pragmatic, working definitions for ‘refugee’

Pragmatic, working definitions are needed by people who find themselves working with refugees and asylum seekers in social, welfare, cultural spheres. These definitions are NOT applicable in immigration-related case work and certain areas of advice/advocacy work where details of immigration status might be significant in what people are entitled to. Asylum-seeker: person who has asked to be allowed to stay in the UK on the grounds that if they return to their original country they will be in danger. They either haven’t had a decision or are making an appeal against a ‘negative’ decision. They are not allowed to work, and have very strictly limited entitlements. If working with asylum seekers, you must build up contacts with specialist professionals as entitlements are extremely complicated and change frequently: First step: your local community law centre, the Refugee Council.

Refugee:

1. Practical working definition: Person who has claimed asylum and been given some form of ‘leave’, permit, permission to ‘remain’, stay, reside in the UK or EU. They are allowed to work, and enter the mainstream benefits, housing etc. system. There are dozens of different kinds of ‘leave to remain’ and you should again refer to specialists if you need confirmation/clarification.

a. Permanent forms of leave to remain: (might be ELR, ILR, older cases of ‘international refugee status’). Significance is that the person is fully secure, can in time apply for nationality and therefore voting rights, and can start to rebuild life.

b. Temporary forms of leave to remain: (might be Discretionary LTR, Humanitarian Protection status, newer cases of international refugee status). Significance is that the person is still highly insecure, when in the process of applying for extensions for example, they can still work etc. but any day could receive a letter refusing them residency and declaring them subject to deportation followed by a knock at the door…, Can’t make longer term decisions, take courses over one year, obtain mortgages etc.

2. Social definition: Person who is of or related to an ethnic group where the majority of original arrivals came through the asylum/refugee process, even if the current generation was born here. Significance relevant to sense of identity, attitudes of people they meet, most likely to be appropriate eg in ‘refugee writers’ group’, support for ‘refugee cultural or sporting events’ eg. 2012?

3. Inclusive definition: any person who considers they have sought refuge in the UK or EU, regardless of legal or immigration status. This definition will be the one used from now.

Or perhaps we should be asking ‘when does someone stop being a refugee?’

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Who is NOT an asylum-seeker or refugee?

Any child (0-17)

Any child including ‘Unaccompanied Children Seeking Asylum’ ‘UCSA’ or ‘Unaccompanied Minors’ is first and foremost a child in British law. The child might also, secondarily, be an asylum-seeker or former A-S with Leave to Remain.

In Britain, Children’s Law 'trumps' Immigration Law

Any young person who was ‘looked after’ and is now 17+ even if they are also seeking asylum

The ‘Hillingdon Ruling’ in 2003 found Hillingdon Council was in breach of Children’s Law at that time, as it was giving lower levels of care and support to children / young people who had been ‘looked after’ or ‘in care’ and who were asylum-seekers than children / young people the same age who were not asylum-seekers.

‘Failed’ asylum-seeker

Some people who have applied for asylum and been given negative decisions, including those who have gone through appeals processes, are also known as ‘failed asylum-seekers’ or at times ‘Appeal Rights Exhausted’. Some may agree to voluntary repatriation and be allowed to remain until they can be removed, many will be detained at this point if they are considered ‘high risk’. Some ‘drop out of sight’ and become known as ‘undocumented’ or some might say ‘illegal’. This group of people has almost no legal access to support other than from personal contacts, some charities/religious bodies and often become highly dependent on other individuals.

Voluntary MigrantsRefugees are migrants and are sometimes called ‘involuntary migrants’. But though they face many issues to do with migrating – lack of English for example - they have a distinct set of experiences and needs that ‘voluntary migrants’ do not have. There are several factors in the lives of families of refugee children that are different to those of families that ‘voluntarily’ migrate to the UK. For example, ‘voluntary’ migrants:

- have the option to return to their country of origin - whether permanently or simply for visits to maintain relationships with distant family

- have had opportunities to prepare for their movement from one country to another and for their arrival, and to make useful arrangements,

- have often arrived with a higher initial level of employability, - often arrive with prepared contacts, existing support within the UK and possibly with one adult arriving

first, establishing a livelihood and a home before being joined by spouse and children who then arrive into a more settled situation than refugees face on arrival.

- voluntary migrants are unlikely to have the lower levels of physical and mental ill health that refugee parents often cope with.

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Asylum and ‘Refugee’ Status and Entitlements 2016 – general reference for awareness, not for advice work.

Work/income/Bens Education Accom NHS Volunteering Travel Rights

Asylum seekers / in Appeal processes

No workVery very rarely allowed to work; May receive some S95/‘NASS’ income if they agree to conditions.

Compulsory to 17. Limited 18+ depending on status before 17?th birthdayCan pay overseas fees/Univ.. Not free ESOL

Maybe, if they are willing to be ‘dispersed’ to outside the SE, otherwise own contacts

Yes Primary, no proof of address reqd, GP referral and A&E, FP, public health-TB AIDS, MH treatment< <torture, FGM Some limits on above. HC1 form (prescriptions etc)A/S Life saving and urgent treatment up front but invoiced /invoiceable. NB constantly argued in courts etc.

LTR as above plus As British

Limited allowance to volunteer – must NOT be ‘unpaid work’. Eg. Software engineer cannot volunteer to do software engineering.

In UK only, may need to report. ‘Right’ to leave but not to return.

Leave to remain (LTR)(a ‘positive’ decision)

-temporary

-permanent

Yes work, Benefits, as British benefits

As British though may pay overseas fees based on length of residency in UK, Colleges require evidence they will remain for full course can be problem if on temporary LTRLimited free ESOL (if JSA etc.)

As British, no preference, must prove ‘local connection’ and if they were ‘dispersed’ that place is considered their ‘local connection’ to leave is vol. homelessness.

As British but propects are affected if people are on temporary LTR

‘Refugee’ status ‘travel document’. May have old passport.Visas required for most intl travel. Likely to face additional scrutiny on return. May have to give evidence of movements in later applications eg. For jobs, nationality etc.

‘Failed’ Exhausted appeals, (‘negative’ decision)

Also NRPFeg. other

No work. A/S May get subsistence ‘Section 4’ if destitute and agree to be deported.Some exceptions eg. If escaping DV, traffickingSome religious/ food banks, homelessness

Compulsory to 16. None unless Section 4. destitute

Limited, public health, human rights etc. plus walk-in access to ‘Project London’ in Bethnal Green, constantly being argued in court

Limited volunteering. Likely to need to report. Some support for voluntary repatriation. May be subject to detention pending deportation.

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migrant/spouse /street sleeping charities support, but limited by NRPF

NRPF No Recourse to Public Funds / LTR Leave to Remain (different forms of residency permit/visa/Refugee Convention Status)

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App5 Links to key websites and news stories at April 2016

3000 Refugee Children Campaign – See also Guardian, BBC, Independenthttp://www.jcore.org.uk/#!Lords-vote-for-Refugee-Children/bu2oa/56f270d10cf266a29256ef4c http://www.jcore.org.uk/ - !Lords-vote-for-Refugee-Children/bu2oa/56f270d10cf266a29256ef4chttp://www.jcore.org.uk/ - !Lords-vote-for-Refugee-Children/bu2oa/56f270d10cf266a29256ef4cRefugee Council digest of Home Office Asylum statisticshttp://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/stats http://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/assets/0003/6985/Asylum_Statistics_Feb_2016.pdf http://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/assets/0003/6986/Children_in_the_Asylum_System_Feb_2016.pdf http://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/assets/0003/7130/Asylum_Support_Feb_2016.pdf http://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/assets/0003/7146/Asylum_Backlogs_Mar_2016.pdf

Detention of Childrenhttp://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/assets/0003/7148/Detention_of_Children_Feb_2016.pdf http://www.barnardos.org.uk/what_we_do/our_work/cedars.htm

UASC Leave Briefinghttp://www.childrenslegalcentre.com/userfiles/limited_leave_unaccompanied_children_04_13.pdf “Separated children who are refused asylum (i.e. refugee status) or humanitarian protection in the UK may be granted limited leave to remain by the Home Office if there are ‘no adequate reception arrangements’ in the country to which they would be returned.” “If the requirements are met, limited leave is granted for a period of 30 months or until the child turns 17.5 years old, whichever is shorter.”

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