Resources

Earlier this year, the government launched what it called the 'Family Returns Consultation'. Despite the name, the proposals in the consultation went far beyond family returns. They aimed to strip back support for people seeking asylum; restrict the help that local authorities can give to children and young care leavers; and expand the use of physical force against children during removals. With Asylum Aid, we strongly opposed these proposals.

In a new editorial, Professor Cornelius Katona (Honorary Director of Medical and Research at the Helen Bamber Foundation) and colleagues raise two vital questions: Can a GP have sufficient expertise to give an opinion in the context of post-traumatic stress disorder and specifically on the impact of detention? And, can a doctor working for a charity be independent, objective, and impartial?

Alongside Freedom from Torture (FfT), we have succeeded in our legal challenge to the changes made by the Home Office to its 'Allocation of Asylum Accommodation' policy. These changes, introduced in February 2024, forced survivors of trafficking, torture and other serious forms of violence to share rooms with strangers.

A new research study explores the impact of short-term grants of leave on former unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. Conducted by University College London, Helen Bamber Foundation and Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile, this research is the first to document the lived experience of receiving temporary status in the UK.

After years of campaigning, the Home Office has for the first time published its own data confirming that hundreds of child refugees arriving in UK alone are being wrongly treated as adults, with devastating consequences. These children are routinely placed in adult accommodation, immigration detention and even adult prisons.

Today's King's Speech confirmed what we feared: another Immigration and Asylum Bill, another year of policies that will make life harder for the people who need protection the most. Over the past decade, the UK has introduced new immigration or asylum legislation almost every year, yet fundamental problems remain unresolved.

The Home Office has updated its Modern Slavery guidance to clarify how decision makers in the National Referral Mechanism should consider ‘disclosure’ when and how a potential victim first reveals or reports experiences of exploitation or abuse) when assessing the credibility of a trafficking or modern slavery claim. HBF is extremely concerned about these changes.

People seeking asylum in the UK are often placed in unsuitable Home Office accommodation that harms their physical and mental health. Requests to move are frequently denied, even when supported by strong medical evidence. Decisions rely heavily on desk-based assessments, raising serious concerns about the treatment, safety, and dignity of people fleeing violence and persecution.

Within the Helen Bamber Foundation research department, we have been working on an exciting, fully co-produced research project. Co-produced research is when both researchers with lived experience of the research topic and researchers with more “traditional” academic experience work together as team members on a project, with the aim of integrating and equally valuing both forms of knowledge.

Decade of Dignity - drafted by a coalition of anti-trafficking and modern slavery organisations, including the Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group - sets out a bold strategic vision for the next decade. Built on four pillars - mandatory corporate accountability, a toughened criminal justice response, survivor-centred recovery, and a national strategy for child protection - it moves beyond piecemeal fixes to offer systemic, cross-departmental solutions.

The Helen Bamber Foundation collaborated with University College London to do a first-of-its-kind UK study, gathering firsthand accounts from human trafficking survivors about their experiences with oath-taking and how their relationship to the oath evolved over time.

This new report looks at the experience of survivors of human trafficking who have been exploited outside of the UK, and argues that all survivors must have equal access to identification, protection and support.