Challenges faced by the Voluntary sector in the West Midlands

According to Dave Stamp, Manager at Asylum Support and Immigration Resource Team (ASIRT) in Birmingham and Chair of the Refugee Strategic Network (RSN), “the situation after a few months of the coalition government in power is still unclear and uncertain in many areas.”

The sector is still guessing the effects in practical terms of the budget cuts at a Regional level and some policy measures like capping numbers for migrants outside the EU. The only certain thing at the moment is that the cuts will range from 25 up to 40 per cent across the board in all government departments, including the UK Border Agency and the Legal Service Commission (LSC).

So, what are these cuts going to mean to the length of cases resolution or provision of section 4 support for example?  ASIRT is particularly concerned about the cuts affecting the LSC as already the system is overloaded with people asking for legal representation.  Referring to the causes of this issue Dave explains: “It is important to stress that lots of request for legal aid are due to general inefficiency and lack of accountability of the UKBA in terms of meeting service users' needs.  If the Agency could organise itself to ensure that service users could get a timely and lawful response to enquiries, and advocates and representatives could actually make contact with the Agency to discuss issues of concern, the need for much costly and time-consuming litigation would be eradicated”.

Some examples of this are Local authorities failing to give section 17 Children Act support to families with no recourse to public funds, UKBA delays providing people with section 4 support or just responding on time to Data Protection Unit Subject Access Requests. Dave goes on to explain: “Obviously everybody knows that the UKBA has a backlog, and that is the answer that the UKBA is giving to all the parties involved in every case, but the question is again: what is going to happen when the cuts are implemented?”

Dave Stamp stresses that now more than ever the sector needs a unified approach and smart thinking to respond to these challenging times, stating, “it is very important that networks like the RSN, that unified agencies across the West Midlands, are able to call people to account in instances like the UKBA Regional Stake holders meetings. It is important to share information and produce well informed evidence of number of cases [as described earlier]. Is not enough to turn up with isolated histories, its necessary to collect and systematise information that will help us to make a good case of advocacy”.

Thus, it is crucial for the voluntary sector engaged in the support of asylum seekers, refugees and the rights of all migrants to attend these meetings with a united and coordinated voice for advocacy and for change. Also, it is important to spend time and energy collecting evidence and information that will help them to have real impact in policy change and justice for all types of migrants.

One such information gathering excercise is currently underway by the Refugee Council. Have a look under our News section and particpate in the survey.