Resources

Despite mounting evidence of the profound harm it causes, the Home Office continues its practice of wrongly assessing children who come to the UK alone to seek protection, as adults. For the third year in a row, the Helen Bamber Foundation’s data shows that hundreds of child refugees are continuing to be incorrectly treated as adults after a visual assessment of age at the border and placed with strangers in adult accommodation and even adult prisons.

18 months ago, the Helen Bamber Foundation (HBF) published detailed evidence from medical assessments and casework showing that the government’s use of Wethersfield airbase as a large ‘open-prison camp’ for men seeking asylum since July 2023 was causing profound harm. New data shows that this is still the case and yet, despite the Prime Minister's commitment to close it, the site remains open.

While we welcome the parts of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill that repeal the Safety of Rwanda Act 2024 and parts of the Illegal Migration Act 2023, the Bill does not go far enough to undo the harmful legislation that has been introduced in recent years. We are alarmed by the introduction of yet further criminal offences that could easily be applied to refugees as opposed to smugglers and traffickers.

On 19 May, the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons called on member states must improve the collaboration between public and private sectors in supporting refugees and people seeking asylum, and to move away from using large sites as accommodation.

We are deeply concerned about measures that deny those who are seeking protection in the UK a fair and individualised assessment of their asylum claim. This briefing examines how restricting Albanians' access to protection in the asylum system impacts survivors of trafficking.

This response to the Ministry of Justice's consultation on civil legal aid draws on HBF’s experience of supporting clients in London who are represented by, or eligible for representation by, legal aid representatives for their asylum and/or immigration matters under the Standard Civil Contract. It draws and builds on our previous submission of February 2024 to the Review of Civil Legal Aid, and includes client data and testimonials from our Ambassadors for Change.

This new report shows that child refugees who come to the UK alone are continuing to face harassment, abuse and criminalisation as a result of being wrongly treated as adults and placed in accommodation with adult strangers.  In the first half of 2024 alone, 63 local authorities in England and Scotland received 603 referrals from various stakeholders who suspected young people were being wrongly placed in adult accommodation or detention due to inaccurate Home Office age assessments. In 493 cases where a decision was made on age, over half cases (262) were found to be children.

This briefing provides an overview of the mental health issues faced by people who are seeking protection in the UK, including survivors of trafficking, and their treatment needs. It then looks at the experiences of Helen Bamber Foundation clients who are Albanian nationals and the risks they might face if forcibly returned to Albania.

There have been several positive developments under the Labour government, including decisions to scrap the Rwanda plan; to not open Scampton; to close Bibby Stockholm; and the decision to progress the asylum claims that had been put on hold. Yet, there is currently no firm plan or timeline for the closure of Wethersfield, despite the Prime Minister committing to do so before the general election and extensive evidence of the harm the site causes to those moved there.

This joint briefing with Asylum Aid, Asylum Matters, Care 4 Calais, Doctors of the World, Humans for Rights Network and the Immigration Law Practitioners Association examines the existing barriers to accessing quality legal advice in RAF Wethersfield and makes a number of practical recommendations.

The current eligibility criteria results in the barring of many children, amongst the most economically disadvantaged in the UK, from Healthy Start. They are thus put at further risk of suffering a nutritional deficit with long term impact on their health and wellbeing. This submission outlines why the Healthy Start scheme should be extended to all families with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF).

This submission outlines concerns about Home Office contact management with people seeking asylum, including the imposition of reporting conditions on extremely vulnerable individuals, including those with mental and/or physical disabilities and survivors of torture and trafficking, and poor communication with those in asylum accommodation.