At the end of November, the government announced a series of cruel plans to make the Hostile Environment even more hostile. On 17th November, they announced changes to the asylum system in a paper called “Restoring Order and Control”. Then on 20th November, they released a statement and consultation on their planned changes to migrants’ rights to settle in the UK. Thanks to our friends at GMIAU for their explainers about what these plans mean for our communities, which you can read here and here.
Enforced destitution has already been designed into the hostile environment for decades. These plans risk creating yet more destitution in our communities:
- The government wants to force refugees to reapply for their status every 2.5 years, waiting 20 years before they can settle. If the Home Office deems their country ‘safe’ in the meantime, they will revoke their refugee status – leaving them with no right to work or access benefits. This will force more people into destitution.
- The government wants to take away the Home Office’s statutory duty to house people seeking asylum, to make it easier to remove support. This will force more people into destitution.
- The government wants to change the asylum appeals process, making it even more complicated. They are also threatening to ‘fast-track’ some cases. This will make it even harder to appeal negative asylum decisions. If a refusal is not successfully appealed, people are not entitled to work or access any kind of support. This will force more people into destitution.
- Beyond the asylum system, people who have migrated to the UK are being threatened with a standard waiting time of 10 years before they can apply for indefinite leave to remain – with people who are deemed to have entered ‘illegally’, or who have entered on a visit visa, or who have overstayed a visa by more than six months, facing a breathtaking 30 year wait. If they don’t manage to renew their status within that time, they risk losing their leave to remain. This will force more people into destitution.
- People will have to wait even longer if they claim benefits at any time – an additional 5 years for claiming benefits for less than 12 months, and an additional 10 years for claiming benefits for more than a year. As a result, people will be – indeed are already being – disincentivised from accessing the safety net they need and are entitled to. This will force more people into destitution.
- The government is considering imposing the ‘no recourse to public funds’ condition even when people are granted indefinite leave to remain. If they are unable to work for health reasons, or because of a caring responsibility, they will be denied access to benefits. This will force more people into destitution.
These changes, if implemented, will benefit no one except those who want to sow division and hate. They risk tearing our communities apart. They must be fought.
In the coming weeks and months, we will share actions you can take to oppose these changes and push forward our vision of a society where no one is forced into destitution because of where they come from.