We can’t expect refugees to rebuild in 28 days
Imagine that you are a refugee who has fled traumatic circumstances, including perhaps torture. You have been waiting months if not years for your asylum claim to be decided. Finally, you receive a letter saying your claim was successful and you now have refugee status. But instead of feeling elation that you can now rebuild your life you face potential homelessness and destitution because you have been given only 28 days to find housing, claim universal credit and set up a bank account, never mind find work (as you’ve not been allowed to undertake paid work as an asylum-seeker). That is the situation that has faced newly recognised refugees for whom elation can quickly turn to despair. The result is all too often stress, anxiety and mental distress.
To the government’s credit they responded last week to growing calls from local authorities and refugee and homelessness organisations for the 28 days ‘move on’ period to be doubled to 56, which is the time local authorities are given to work with households at risk of homelessness under the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017. However, they have made clear that the shift to 56 days is ‘an interim measure’ expected to last until June. It has been prompted by the difficulties created as a result of the fast-tracking of asylum decisions and the introduction of eVisas in place of the biometric residence permits that were required previously. It’s certainly true that the situation has grown much worse recently. Newspapers have reported on a huge rise in the number of newly recognised refugees facing homelessness and that homelessness charities and local authorities are buckling under the pressure. The latest homelessness statistics show a 250 per cent increase in local authority homelessness assistance for newly recognised refugee households up till June 2024.
However, this represents an aggravation of a pre-existing systemic problem. Some of us first raised the issue during the passage of the Immigration Bill 2016. Despite welcome administrative tweaks and the introduction of more assistance, the problem has only worsened. 28 days is simply not long enough to open a bank account, find a home and claim universal credit. Indeed, universal credit is not paid for five weeks from an initial claim and while it is possible to ask for an advance payment, this is then deducted from weekly benefit, which spells more hardship down the line especially given newly recognised refugees are very unlikely to have savings to fall back on.
As well as the immediate material and psychological impact on newly recognised refugees, the inadequate move on period undermines the government’s own aspiration to ensure their integration. This point has been underlined by the Commission on the Integration of Refugees and by London Councils as well as individual local authorities such as Islington whose ability to undertake resettlement work is hampered. In this context, it is disappointing to read in The Times (9 December) that the government have scrapped the Refugee Employability Programme, which helps refugees prepare for employment and to integrate more generally.
This Friday sees the 2nd reading of my Private Members’ Bill, which would extend the ‘move on’ period to 56 weeks permanently and which would also require all the necessary paperwork to be issued to newly recognised refugees at the same time. At present, this does not happen, making the practical problems associated with ‘moving on’ that much more difficult. I have been bowled over by the strength of support I’ve received from refugee and homelessness organisations, volunteers and local authorities.
The government have recognised that 28 days is not long enough for newly recognised refugees to move on. They now need to take a step further and admit that this is not a temporary problem but a systemic one requiring a longer-term solution and also take the necessary steps to simplify the documentation process. A positive response to the Bill would not cost money; indeed, research suggests it could save money. Let us hope the government will listen.
Baroness Ruth Lister is the former Director of the Child Poverty Action Group and currently its Hon President; Emeritus Professor of Social Policy, Loughborough University and Labour peer.
