1. Advocacy and campaigning initiatives
2. Government and Parliamentary updates
3. Reports and research
4. Resources, events, jobs and training
5. What we’re reading, watching and listening to
1. Advocacy and campaigning initiatives
Invite to sign open letter to Home Secretary on weaponisation of volunteering
In her speech to Labour Party Conference, the new Home Secretary outlined plans to tie people’s immigration status to a series of new conditions, including mandatory volunteering. As a voluntary sector, who would presumably be relied upon to enforce such a system, we are a delivering a clear message to the Home Secretary that her plans represent a weaponisation of volunteering that undermines its many benefits and would create a population of people forced to participate under threat of having their lives in this country ripped away from them. We think this is unacceptable and refuse to be a part of it.
All charities, NGOs, third sector and voluntary organisations, including voluntary service councils and any organisations that work with volunteers are encouraged to add their signatures to this open letter to the Home Secretary.
Please do share this form widely amongst your networks via email, whatsapp etc, but not on public forums such as social media or websites please as we aim to get this published in the media, and then sent to the Government.
The deadline for signatures is 12pm on Friday 10th October. If you encounter any difficulties in adding your signature please contact [email protected].
The letter has been co-ordinated by organisations including Asylum Matters, Focus on Labour Exploitation and Praxis.
TAKE ACTION:
- Sign the open letter and demand the Home Secretary keeps volunteering voluntary
- Share the sign-up link amongst your networks
Anti-migrant rhetoric by political leaders
Unfortunately, the party conference season has seen the continuation of harmful divisive rhetoric from our political leaders. As parliament returns next week, take action and ask better of our political leaders, calling on them to unite our communities not to divide them by signing this Solidarity not Strangers’ EDM 1697.
TAKE ACTION:
- Use our easy letter writing tool to write to your MPs and get them to sign the EDM.
- Share the tool amongst your networks so more MPs hear from their constituents about the need to call out divisive anti-migrant rhetoric
Violence Against Women & Girls
Working with our friends at Women for Refugee Women we developed this letter with key VAWG organisations, to challenge the weaponisation of violence against women and girls by the Hard & Far Right. We received a reply from Jess Phillips today which we’ll circulate to those that signed. Our work with WfRW and the VAWG sector continues.
TAKE ACTION:
- Use this ‘bust card’ to counter misinformation on social media and lay out the facts about VAWG
Charity Commission Liaison
Thank you to so many of you that signed the letter to the Charity Commission. We circulated their response to signatories. The Charity Commission convened a sector meeting on Tuesday 7th, we were able to invite 7 organisations that signed the letter – we tried to ensure a focus on grassroots, community-based charities, that reflected a broad geographic spread. We’ll be in touch with signatories with notes from the meeting.
The National Day of Solidarity to End Immigration Detention – October 18th
The National Day of Solidarity to End Immigration Detention is fast approaching, on 18 October 2025. Every day, thousands of people are routinely detained in immigration detention centres across the UK, in prison-like conditions simply because they don’t have a right passport or visa, or for seeking safety – without knowing when they will be released, detained people face isolation, trauma, and severe harm to their mental health. Yet, instead of shutting these centres down, the UK government is expanding the detention estate. The government is also planning to carry out more immigration raids, detention and deportations that rip apart our communities. On 18 October 2025, join the National Day of Solidarity to End Immigration Detention. Across the UK, communities will come together to stand in solidarity with people harmed by the immigration system and to demand an end to detention. Co-organised by Right to Remain, These Walls Must Fall and No To Hassockfield Campaign, you can read about last year’s demonstration here.
TAKE ACTION:
- Join the demo at Hassockfield (Derwentside) – more info including coach tickets here
- Join the online safety briefing for those attending the demo – register here
- Organise a local solidarity event – read about other local actions for inspiration here or get in touch with [email protected] for more info
Spread the word about the day with the hashtags #TheseWallsMustFall, #EndDetention, #NoOneIsIllegal, #SetHerFree – more info here and open source social media graphics here
2. Government and Parliamentary updates
Lift The Ban
The think tank Labour Together have produced a paper on “contribution” that is reportedly gaining traction in Whitehall, and appears to have influenced announcements made in the new Home Secretary’s Conference Speech. There are some proposals around the right to work for people seeking asylum within that paper, but they are framed in a very problematic way with harmful and far-reaching implications for workers’ rights, integration outcomes, disability rights and the fundamental human right to seek safety from war and persecution. So, we’ve produced a top-line analysis of the paper in case partners are approached by media or any decision makers on it, which you can find here.
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill Update
An enormous thanks to all of you who took part in our ‘Lobby a Lord’ action around Committee Stage of the Borders Bill. Over 3000 emails from the public were sent to members of the House of Lords, asking them to speak up for working rights on the 8th September.
The debate itself was broadly very positive, with a range of cross-party voices speaking up for working rights (links to speeches included here), including Crossbencher Lord Kerr of Kinlochard and Peers from Labour (Lord Rees of Easton, Lord Watson of Invergowrie and Lord Dubs), the Liberal Democrats (Baroness Hamwee and Lord German), the Greens (Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle) and the Conservative Party (Lord Randall of Uxbridge) expressing support.
Whilst the Home Office Minister, Lord Hanson, made clear the Government did not support lifting the ban on work at this time, his response to amendment 155A that Lift the Ban worked with Lord Rees of Easton, Lord Barber of Ainsdale, Lord Alton of Liverpool and the Lord Bishop of Chelmsford on, was more positive:
“My noble friend Lord Rees made a very powerful case, and I was pleased to meet him, the noble Lord, Lord Barber, and colleagues to engage on this matter. I value the representations that have been made and welcome continued collaboration… my noble friend made a very important case for the Government to consider, and I want to reflect on it with colleagues… I will look again at what he said today because I think there is scope to ensure that we examine some of those areas, and I thank him for his amendment.”
We hope the Government will commit to an annual debate in Parliament on working rights for people seeking safety as a stepping stone towards lifting the nonsensical ban once and for all – and will be looking to raise the issue again at Report Stage.
Erosion of protections: human rights under threat
In a troubling move, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has signalled plans to “rethink” the UK’s human rights laws in response to pressure over small boat crossings. This rhetoric not only risks undermining fundamental rights but also deepens hostility towards people seeking safety, contributing to the ongoing erosion of their protections. Read the full article here.
64 organisations urge the Government to reverse the shortening of the move-on period
Government recently made a sudden U-turn by reducing the move-on period from 56 to 28 days for single adult refugees. NACCOM, Homeless Link and over 60 other organisations have written an open letter to the Government urging them to reverse this decision, and to allow their own pilot evaluation of the 56-day period to complete so that they may use this evidence to make wider improvements to the move-on process. Coverage here.
3. Reports and research
‘What Britain really thinks’
A poll of more than 45,000 people, from HOPE Not Hate with the TUC, claims to disprove the divisive narrative of the far right, revealing a country where most people believe they live in peaceful, friendly communities; enjoy mixing with people of different backgrounds, religions and ethnicities and are far more concerned about the cost of living and the NHS than about issues relating to asylum or immigration. These results are in many ways encouraging for our sector and suggest ways to push back against seeming political consensus that a harsher approach to people seeking safety, and other migrants, is all the public wants. You can read the detailed results here.
Economic benefit of lifting the ban on work
The Economist have published a piece studying the economic benefits of lifting the ban on work for people seeking asylum. Full article here.
4. Resources, events, jobs and training
Events
- The National Day of Solidarity to End Immigration Detention, co-organised by Right to Remain, These Walls Must Fall and No To Hassocksfield, is taking place on the 18th October. Details here
- iMix are running Sector Wide Communications meetings, the next one is on Wednesday 15th October between Midday – 1pm, contact iMix for further details and joining links.
- iMix are also running Free Media Masterclasses throughout November, please contact the iMix team for details.
- Rene Cassin & HIAS+JCORE are running a lunch and learn session on Citizenship on Thursday 9th October – details here
- Migrant Voice are hosting a network meeting on 16 October – details here
- SMK are running campaigning workshops across October and November – details here
Right to Remain fact sheets
Right to Remain have produced two A5 fact sheets; on immigration detention, and on staying safe against the threat of far right violence. The leaflets offer clear definitions and practical information on what you can do if you are facing immigration detention, or find yourself at risk of aggression or violence from the far right.
They are offering these fact sheets free of charge to groups. If you’d like to receive a batch, please get in touch by emailing [email protected].
Jobs
- Counterpoint Arts is recruiting a part-time Marketing and Communications Producer. Closing date 26.10.25
- Show Racism the Red card is looking for an education worker in the North East. Closing date 19.10.25
- Refugee Legal Support are recruiting a Fundraising & Operations Director, closing date 21.10.25
- IOM UK are looking for a Digital Communications Intern, closing date 16.10.25
- WeMove Europe are recruiting a Campaigns Manager, closing date 21.10.25
- UK UNHCR are recruiting a Senior Officer Digital Optimisation, closing date 19.10.25
- Bevan Foundation are recruiting a Head of Policy (Poverty), closing date 19.10.25
5. What we’re reading, watching and listening to
- What now for refugee family reunion applications? A helpful summary from Free Movement of the rules currently in place after the Government’s attack on family reunion.
- This extremely moving article in The Big Issue highlights what life is like for people seeking asylum forced to live in Napier barracks – and makes the clear case for working rights and the right to belong and be heard for people seeking asylum.
- Our director, Lou, has written for The Mirror about the appalling impact the Government’s latest announcements on refugee citizenship and family reunion will have.
- This piece from the BBC highlighting the poor conditions in Clearsprings asylum accommodation and their soaring profits
- The Observer explores the experiences of Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children in this piece
- This IWA Agenda piece about the benefits to Wales of lifting the ban on work for people seeking asylum
