31 March 2005
Home Office responds to the findings of Surer Funding
Sarah Sandford, author of NPC’s report on refugees and asylum seekers in the UK, Home truths, answers some frequently asked questions.
Is the Home Office too soft on refugees and asylum seekers, rather than too hard on them?
The evidence points the other way in fact. NPC’s research shows that the asylum process is extremely tough and legal help is limited. The United Nations High Commission on Refugees says that there is a culture of refusal of claims at the Home Office—evident by the fact that one in five decisions is overturned at appeal.
The Home Office is taking some steps in the right direction. This includes introducing more training for decision makers and piloting early access to legal help. But it has not gone far enough and the culture of disbelief still prevails.
These failings have serious consequences for asylum seekers who are wrongly refused: either they are detained or live in destitution in the UK or they are deported to countries where they face persecution. Scrutiny by charities like Asylum Aid and the Refugee Council is crucial to ensure that the system of processing asylum claims is both fair and efficient.
Why should private donors support work with asylum seekers and refugees?
We need a fair and efficient system for processing asylum claims. Donors can support charities which make the process fairer. In doing so, they help people with valid asylum claims to gain protection from persecution.
Donors can also help established refugees get into work and integrate into society. Charities working with refugees and asylum seekers benefit us all by saving taxpayers in benefit costs and by creating a more peaceful and tolerant society.
NPC recommends that donors support charities in the following two areas: improving the asylum system or encouraging integration. And we have found a host of effective charities for donors to support.
What are the economic costs and benefits of refugees?
First, let us look at the costs. Precise figures are not available but we know the total cost is more than £1bn each year including the costs of processing claims as well as housing and other benefits.
But the asylum system is far from efficient. Making the asylum system fairer and reducing the number of appeals would produce savings for the taxpayers. If 5% less asylum seekers appealed their initial decisions, then the government would save £15m.
Second, let us focus on the benefits of refugees. Refugees are able to work and have a huge amount to contribute to Britain. Whether one supports the rights of future asylum seekers or not, there are close to 300,000 settled refugees in the UK and it makes sense to use this resource as productively as possible.
40% of refugees were professionals in their home countries. Unfortunately, though, 36% of refugees are unemployed—compared with around 5% of the workforce as a whole—and are therefore not able to make a positive contribution. Investing a small amount in helping refugee professionals use their skills in Britain is a sound investment.
What about the local communities who are hostile to asylum seekers and refugees and have overstretched resources?
Local communities should be heard and responded to. Communities need better information. Many also need better resources, as we highlighted in our other reports, such as on older people living in deprived areas or on young people in education.
Charities play a vital role in communities where asylum seekers and refugees are living. They bring people together and build understanding. They can also help communities work together on issues that concern everyone, whether this is employment, schooling or other issues. And because they are part of the community, charities are in a good position to address prejudices and hostilities.
In turn, refugees and asylum seekers themselves play an important role in many charities and this helps to break down barriers and means that the refugees and asylum seekers gain work experience in the UK. Many of the volunteers advising clients at Positive Action in Housing, a charity in Scotland, are themselves refugees and asylum seekers, for example.
How are charities helping asylum seekers and refugees?
Let us take one charity as an example: the Refugee Education and Training Advisory Service (RETAS), a project of Education Action International. It gives advice, training and practical support to help refugees retrain and find work in this country. The charity is helping refugee doctors, amongst others, to requalify so that they can work in the health service. This has several benefits:
- the NHS gets the experienced doctors it so desperately needs right now;
- the refugee doctors and their families get back on their feet and integrate more with the communities they live in; and
- the taxpayer saves thousands: helping just 500 of the unemployed refugee doctors in the UK to requalify could save £120m.
We have calculated that these benefits amount to a return for a donor of 6,000%, because helping an experienced doctor to requalify is so much cheaper than training up a school leaver from scratch. And the charity is also doing similar work and achieving impressive results in supporting refugee nurses, teachers and engineers to retrain.
So, donors who are supporting charities like RETAS will know that their money is being put to good use.
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