Introduction

NRC is an independent charity for Yorkshire & the Humber working with refugees, asylum seekers and new migrants to provide services and influence policy.

DEWA Project is an organisation serves as an agent of migrant women's empowerment through skills development, training and advocacy.

 

Context

NRC has developed experiences of working with exploited economic migrants through its continuing Advice Services, Community Development and Women’s Services and its Employment and Education Services in Sheffield and throughout Yorkshire and Humber. It also gained significant experience through developing and managing a regional Migrant Advice Service, funded through the short-lived Migration Impact Fund 2008 – 2010. Through Jantela Partnerships (www.jantela.org), NRC provides infrastructure support through other organisations.

Summary

Key issues regarding the position of vulnerable economic migrants in Sheffield (and throughout the region):

- Despite figures showing a dip in new EU migrant workers in Yorkshire & Humber, migrant workers remained a key part of the economy and workforce in the region, particularly cities of Sheffield and Leeds.

- There were increasing signs of those who had come here since 2004 settling permanently, especially where they had children, or already had (or had formed) links with family or friends.

- The ending of the Workers Registration Scheme for the eight EU accession countries was a positive way of encouraging permanency of settlement.

- The ending of the scheme – and benefit entitlements that resulted – would prevent destitution for those thrown out of work, and for some victims of domestic violence.

- Cuts in council services and funding for the voluntary sector could reverse some of the positive work with migrant workers, and reduce language provision to enable them to access services.

- Co-operation between agencies would lead to better intelligence and joint working, particularly to combat exploitation.

- Reaching isolated migrant workers is key. Trades union activity in the workplace, churches, community activities, and providing services that were valued are very important.

Specific Services

The following are specific areas, where the needs and demands of vulnerable economic migrants need to be addressed

Advice Services

The following priorities need to be addressed:

-         Need for continued support for mainstream advice services. Existing projects not sustainable without funding.

-         Need for Multi-agency groups to work in partnership to harvest economies of scale and share experiences. Citizens Advice Bureaux, Refugee Council, Refugee Forums, Northern Refugee Centre are some of the voluntary sector players that can work more collaboratively going forward.

-         Community engagement to obtain “client voice” that can potentially influence service delivery. It should be possible for asylum seekers, migrants and refugees to speak for themselves through their chosen spokespersons.

-         Volunteer development through knowledge and skills transfer.

-         Training to achieve relevant OISC level and with it accreditation. Immigration advice must not however dominate other strands of wanted advice services.

ESOL Provision

Problems faced by migrants in ESOL provision:

Lack of English language skills (reading, writing speaking and listening) severely hampers educational attainment, training and job prospects. Migrants face an increased risk of exploitation through work i.e. working cash in hand for below the minimum wage, no sick pay, paid annual leave etc.

New rules on access to free ESOL classes have been challenged because of their impact on race equality and have now been revised. There are still other discriminatory impacts:

Mainstream ESOL provision fails to reflect the life and working patterns of migrants, creating a dependency on voluntary and community sector agencies e.g. colleges are unable to offer ESOL flexibly - in evenings, weekends or taught one to one at home – for shift workers or those unable to take paid or unpaid time off work.

There is no mainstream provision for people with visual impairments – an equivalent of Brail for ESOL has not been located.

A review of the discriminatory effects on the lack of appropriate ESOL provision (especially on women with children, disabled and older people, and others excluded from the labour market) and the consequent damage to community cohesion. 

What has made things worse?

Pre-entry ESOL support is underfunded generally and relies on VCS agencies to fill these gaps.

Central and local government budgets focus on ESOL Level 1 and upwards. There is no acknowledgement of the value of Pre-Entry Level ESOL or of the diverse communities who need to develop a basic grasp of English to meaningfully benefit from ESOL Level 1 upwards.

The dependency on grant funding can mean in some cases that provision is not uniform. With ESOL competencies/qualifications now a requirement for settlement and citizenship, this has a knock-on additional discriminatory effect.

What would make things better?

Wider recognition of the importance of Pre-entry ESOL based on the ESOL National Curriculum across central and local governments

Adequate budgets/grants that support the delivery of Pre-entry ESOL to migrants and acknowledge the key role that VCS agencies play in delivering provision in flexible community settings that meet the need/circumstances of the learner.

Good Practice Examples

Sheffield Association for the Voluntary Teaching of English (SAVTE) English – a case study. SAVTE recruits and trains volunteers to teach English to the most excluded members of Sheffield. It reduces isolation by providing people with life changing language skills so they can engage with everyday life in new and meaningful ways, progress to further training, education and employment and integrate into their local and mainstream communities.

1. One to one tuition.
2. Local learning groups.
3. Conversation Clubs.
4. Volunteer recruitment and training.

Women Migrant Needs

Inequalities and fairness

• Nearly half of all migrants to Sheffield are women. Women who are outside of their country of origin are particularly vulnerable to experiencing gender-based violence. Some groups of women, such as refugee women, women migrants, including women migrant workers and destitute women are also particularly vulnerable to violence. Migrant women in the UK who are experiencing violence have an intensified experience of it because their immigration status often prevents them from accessing life-saving services.
• Trafficked women are routinely responded to as immigration offenders rather than victims of human rights abuses and returned to their country of origin, frequently re-trafficked.
• Migrant domestic workers are often unable to leave an abusive employer and face proposals which will further increase their vulnerability to exploitation.
• A combination of immigration and welfare rights legislation ensures that they cannot access safe accommodation or welfare benefits which are necessary to leave a violent relationship. The result is that they are faced with a stark choice: leave and face destitution or stay and risk their lives

Causes of inequalities

• Due to cultural, language and poverty differences, migrant women continue to face challenges such as domestic violence, social exclusion and limited access to good health.
• Women bear the brunt of their husband’s failure to succeed financially when they arrive in Sheffield - often exhibited through violence.
• Increased alcohol abuse due to depression also contributes to escalating violence.
•  For women with low levels of formal skills from developing countries, opportunities in Sheffield are highly concentrated in care activities, domestic work and the informal sector. These women may become trapped in enclaves: low wage jobs with few benefits and limited career opportunities that reinforce social disadvantages.
• Migrant women are vulnerable to poor health usually as a result of past experiences of trauma and their precarious status in the UK. Health services may struggle to meet their needs. Translation and interpretation is vital. Crucially, there is no known study dedicated to health needs of migrant women since the 2004 surge in migrants to the city / region
• Impact of funding cuts: some women’s refuges facing funding cuts can only support women who are eligible for welfare benefits and Supported People Funding. Several migrant women may not be entitled to welfare benefits, such help is limited and their safety is not usually guaranteed.
• Recent research by Oxfam and Fawcett Society highlights how minority and migrant women are invisible to decision and policy makers.http://www.oxfam.org.uk/applications/blogs/pressoffice/2012/01/16/%E2%80%98we-are-not-invisible%E2%80%99-say-women-campaigners-to-minister-stunell-in-manchester/
• Policy makers tend often to focus on the experience of white women and not to consider minority and migrant women; and when they look at race, the women’s perspective get ignored

Examples of good practice

• Government has introduced a range of measures and legislation aimed at reducing the incidence of domestic violence, and related homicides, and creating a culture of ‘zero tolerance’ for such violence. These initiatives don’t extend to women with immigration problems, rendering government approach to such women as inhumane/discriminatory. This is particularly worse for women with no recourse to public funds i.e. those who come to the city on spousal visas
• Despite their disadvantaged circumstances, migrant women frequently send a larger proportion of their incomes home than do men.
• As of 1^st April 2012, migrants are able to apply under the DDV (destitution domestic violence)Concession. The Concession makes it easier for women to leave a violent relationship without fearing deportation to countries of origin where they risk violence and persecution for being divorced / separated.  
• Guidance for local authorities on how to assess and support victims of domestic violence who have no recourse to public funds http://www.wrc.org.uk/includes/documents/cm_docs/2010/n/nrpf_network_guidance_for_las_2010.pdf
• Better data available with regards to refugees and migrant workers. The collection of good data about migrants is dependent on the degree of trust built up between migrants, the state, local authorities and VCS.  

Tackling Inequalities

·        Situate the Work of the Gender Champion for the UKBA who was appointed in 2010 in the Council’s commitment to end gender based violence

·        Increase awareness of DDV (destitution domestic violence) Concession.

·        Needs of migrants, especially women must be recognised within existing policies, decision making structures and strategies in addition to targeted provision and initiatives being developed to respond to the particular needs of migrant women

·        Sheffield must adopt effective use of the Guidance for Local Authorities on how to assess and support victims of domestic violence who have no recourse to public funds http://www.wrc.org.uk/includes/documents/cm_docs/2010/n/nrpf_network_guidance_for_las_2010.pdf

·        making structures and policies on deprivation, cohesion and diversity, especially in locals strategic partnerships

·        Migrant health mapping to be undertaken to guide services sensitive to the needs of women

·        Dedicated strategy for addressing exploitation of women in the labour market within Sheffield.

·        Improve the way that decision-makers assess credibility in cases that involve rape and other forms of gender-based violence

·        Situate the work of the UKBA Gender Champion in the Government’s commitments to end violence against women as set out in the Call to End Violence Against Women and Girls

Top three priorities for migrant women

1.       Sheffield must adopt effective use of the Guidance for local authorities on how to assess and support victims of domestic violence who have no recourse to public funds http://www.wrc.org.uk/includes/documents/cm_docs/2010/n/nrpf_network_guidance_for_las_2010.pdf

2.       Have a dedicated strategy for addressing exploitation of women in the labour market within Sheffield.

3.       Mechanisms should be developed to respond to these issues which will enable women who are outside of their country of origin and who are at risk of or are experiencing gender-based violence to secure safety in Sheffield

Private Sector Housing

Limited routes by which new migrants enter the Private rented Sector (PRS) have certain causes and consequences:

·  Difficulty in accessing formal channels of entry - Apart from the natural advantages of finding accommodation through work and/or community contacts, new migrants often lack the deposits, references and so on that they would need in order to apply for lettings through high street lettings agents. They may also be unaware of official channels such as local lettings schemes or housing options services which facilitate access to more reliable parts of the sector (BSHF, 2008).

·                          Limited choice, and use of less desirable accommodation- New migrants often enter the market through the least desirable accommodation, often in disadvantaged areas or where demand for housing is lowest, filling voids created by people who have moved on to better conditions (Robinson, et al., 2007). This has been described as the ‘new migrant penalty’ in the housing (and jobs) market (Jayaweera and Choudhury, 2008).

·                          Lack of understanding of tenancy rights - Any measures aimed at improving new migrants’ conditions need to recognise the difficulty of targeting those who use informal channels. They may be unaware of their rights and unwilling to use formal schemes or projects.

Competition within the PRS

• Because many new migrants (both economic migrants and forced migrants) are single men, with low priority for social housing, they are in direct competition for accommodation in the PRS with UK-born single men within deprived communities, which might be a particular cause of resentment (Amas, 2008). This is likely to get worse with imminent LHA changes.
• Competition with would-be homeowners. In some local markets, demand from migrants and other groups may encourage owners to rent out properties (particularly as multiple lets) rather than to sell, thus reducing availability of properties at the bottom end of the owner-occupier market.
• Competition between migrant groups.  Since asylum dispersal began a decade ago, a significant proportion of accommodation has been obtained through Home Office contracts with private sector providers. The buying up of housing by private landlords (mainly in poor areas) to earn revenue from UK Border Agency (UKBA) contracts affected local markets. In some cases it may have prevented housing clearance in areas where the local market has otherwise collapsed, affecting housing market renewal programmes (Amas, 2008). Despite the government’s ‘localism’ agenda, imminent decisions by UKBA are likely to place most new asylum accommodation contracts in the PRS, with potentially serious consequences for community integration if local authorities, local migrant networks and voluntary organisations working with migrants are sidelined.

(Perry, J. 2012. A Policy and Practice report from the Housing and Migration Network. http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/migrants-private-rental-sector-full.pdf - accessed 12/4/12)

Schools and Children

The following priorities need to be addressed

-         Increased targeted support to schools which have high numbers of international new arrivals

-         Particular focused partnership work with schools to

-         Secure school placements for newly arrived children and young people as quickly as possible

-         Identify and remove barriers to learning for children and young people through for example:

1.       Implementation of the National Strategy’s “New Arrivals Achievement Project”

2.       Provision of targeted English language intervention programme

3.       Provision of appropriate bilingual or EMA support from peripatetic support EMA

        - Support workers

1.       Recruitment of a team of bilingual support workers

2.       Provision of Educational Social Worker or Family Worker support where appropriate

3.       Provision of support for children’s transport to school

4.       Improved communication between school and families

       Proposals

1 )                     a) that there is a multi agency meeting convened by NRC of

• NRC
• SAVTE
• DEWA Project
• PAC – Pakistan Advice Centre
• Tinsley Advice Centre
• Tinsley Forum
• Darnall forum

As identified VCS agencies working with migrant workers, together with any other relevant agencies identified

b)      That the 2 Cohesion, Migration and Safety posts and a representative from the Fairness Commission are invited to this

c)       This develop an VCS action plan for reducing inequalities and promote positive action for  vulnerable economic migrant communities in Sheffield including advice and advisory services;

• Community Development
• Language services (ESOL)
• Employment Services
• women and family services

d)      That NRC develops similar initiatives with VCS agencies working with migrants to enable more regional approach

2)              That the Sheffield Refugee Forum convened by Sheffield City Council Asylum Team (at present) widens it’s brief to include migrant issues

.

3)              That Yorkshire and Humber Regional Strategic Migration Group (which Jim Steinke is co-deputy Chair and represents wider VCS) is asked to coordinate similar local authority initiatives to enable more regional approach to migration.

Jim Steinke (CEO, NRC) Jim.Steinke@nrcentre.org.uk

Tchiyiwe Chihana (Policy & Research, DEWA Project) Tchiyiwe.Chihana@dewaproject.org