Over the last weeks, we have been deeply alarmed about the far-right attacks outside asylum hotels and threats of more organised violence across the country. We strongly condemn the racist and vitriolic targeting of people seeking protection in the UK. We stand in solidarity with the men, women, children and families at the sharp end of this hostility, who deserve to live in dignity and with safety.
The government has rightly recognised that child poverty needs to be addressed urgently. But this concern appears to not apply to all children. Just two months ago, the government decided to keep a small group of already disadvantaged children stuck in the very poverty it seeks to address, by freezing the rates of financial support given to people seeking protection in the UK.
The Helen Bamber Foundation (HBF) welcomes the government’s decision to scrap the use of ‘scientific methods’ to assess the age of unaccompanied children seeking asylum in the UK. However, we are concerned about the government’s proposals to use artificial intelligence (AI) and facial recognition technologies to assess age, and the ongoing use of visual assessments at the border.
New data reveals that while over 4,240 non-British nationals were confirmed to be victims of trafficking in 2024, only 176 victims were granted permission to stay in the UK (‘leave to remain’) - just 4%. 4,064 adults were refused a grant of leave, despite many needing to stay in the country for their recovery and to assist with the prosecution of their traffickers. This new report from HBF, ATLEU and ECPAT UK looks at the harm caused to adult and child victims of trafficking left with insecure immigration status.
A first-of-its-kind clinical study by the Helen Bamber Foundation and the University of Hertfordshire looked at the mental health impact of living in hotel accommodation on people seeking protection in the UK. It found that those forced to live in asylum hotels experience significantly higher levels of distress and depression compared to people living in alternative accommodation.
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.
With the far right on the rise globally and the rise in discrimination and hate crimes, we urgently need this government to move away from the demonising language of the past and towards defending everyone's fundamental human rights, with immigration and asylum systems that are fair and humane.
Helen Bamber Foundation Group (HBF Group) is pleased to announce Alison Pickup as their new Chief Executive Officer. Alison, who is currently the Executive Director of Asylum Aid, a charity part of the HBF Group, will take over from Kerry Smith, who has been the CEO of the HBF Group since May 2018 to June 2025
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.
Thousands of people seeking protection, including survivors of trafficking and torture, are placed in squalid hotels, remote large ex-military sites, and dispersal accommodation which is in disrepair. Living in unhygienic and crowded spaces, putting up with substandard food and hostile support staff, and living on an allowance of £8.86 per person per week is an everyday reality for many, as they are not allowed to work while waiting for a decision on their asylum claim. This is compounded by the sheer length of time they spend in these conditions.
