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
Government’s earned settlement proposals
These proposals risk deepening insecurity for people who have already rebuilt their lives here, making long-term stability conditional, uncertain, and harder to achieve for families contributing to our communities.
The consultation may have ended but there are still ways you can take action,
TAKE ACTION:
- Use this tool produced by Praxis to write to your MP and urge them to oppose these attacks on settlement;
- Use this tool produced by Work Rights Centre to write to your MP and urge them to oppose plans to restrict settlement
Refugee-led petition on settlement changes
A petition by a group of refugees against the proposed 20 year wait for settlement for refugees has now been signed over 15,000 times. The petition points out that the plans ‘don’t just delay paperwork, they delay lives, hopes and dreams’.
TAKE ACTION:
Sign and share the petition here: Don’t leave refugees in limbo: Scrap the 20-year wait | 38 Degrees
Urge your MP to sign EDM 2486 on border violence
Following a recent parliamentary reception we need to keep parliamentary momentum and attention on the harms of UK taxpayer-funded border violence and the deaths it is driving by securing more signatures to EDM 2486.
- TAKE ACTION: Write to your MP with this easy letter-writing tool to urge them to support the motion on border violence.
Communities Not Camps
As communities continue to be impacted by the opening of the ex military site at Crowborough and the planned camp in Inverness, HMP Northeye in East Sussex, earmarked as a camp by the previous Government, has been transferred to Homes England for redevelopment as housing. The failed experiment to place people seeking safety in Northeye cost £15.4 million and was labelled as emblematic of a ‘dysfunctional culture’ at the Home Office by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee . Meanwhile, it has been revealed that £56 000 has already been spent by the Ministry of Defence on works at Cameron barracks prior to handing the facility to the Home Office.
TAKE ACTION:
- Write to your MP to tell them that people seeking asylum should be housed in communities, not camps and never in expensive, wasteful ex-military sites.
2. Government and Parliamentary updates
Legal challenge against removals as part of the ‘one in, one out’ deal
A group of affected people are bringing a High Court challenge to the Government’s “one in, one out” returns deal with France, they are expected to claim the deal breaches modern slavery laws. This comes after the UN has called on the UK and France to halt the scheme, warning of “serious violations of international human rights law”.
Cranston Inquiry Report into the deaths of people crossing the channel in November 2021
This report details the findings and conclusion that the 2021 small‑boat disaster in which at least 30 people drowned in the Channel was “avoidable”, blaming significant systemic failings, poor coordination and under‑resourcing on both the UK and French sides. You can read the report here
Home Secretary questioned by Home Affairs Committee
In this session the Home Secretary stated she cannot guarantee small boat crossings will fall by next year and defended proposals to double the waiting time for permanent settlement from five to ten years. You can watch it here.
3. Reports and research
Far from settled: The government’s ‘earned settlement’ consultation
According to this new analysis from IPPR more than 300,000 children already living in the UK could be required to wait a decade or more for permanent immigration status under the Home Office’s proposed “earned settlement” policy.
Women in Refugee Law Policy Paper – The Impact of ‘Safe Country’ Concepts on Women Seeking Asylum in the UK
This report draws together insights on the use of ‘safe country’ concepts in the UK, the role of country of origin information in ‘safe country’ assessments, concerns about the impact of ‘safe country’ concepts on women seeking international protection and the importance of recognising and valuing knowledge produced by women with lived experience. You can read it here.
Participatory Action Research Guide – Women for Refugee Women
This valuable guide examines the peer-led participatory action research (PAR) model. It explores the challenges and opportunities in achieving genuine co-production and includes recommendations from Women for Refugee Women’s PAR team of researchers with lived experience of the UK’s asylum system.
4. Resources, events, jobs and training
WfRW How to Guide by Researchers with Lived Experience on Participatory Action Research
The guide examines the peer-led participatory action research (PAR) model. It explores the challenges and opportunities in achieving genuine co-production and includes recommendations from Women for Refugee Women’s PAR team of researchers with lived experience of the UK’s asylum system.
Jobs and opportunities:
- Refugee Futures in Teesside is recruiting for a new Chief Executive – Deadline 9th March, 9am
- Bradford City of Sanctuary is recruiting for a Chair of their Trustees – Deadline 2nd March 9am.
- Upbeat Communities is recruiting for a Head of Income. Deadline is 12th March, 2026
- Action Foundation in Newcastle is recruiting for a Communications Officer . Deadline 24th February, 12pm.
- Right to Remain is recruiting for a Communications Officer. Deadline 23rd March, 5pm.
- The Unity Project (TUP) is recruiting for a Strategic Casework Lead (Maternity Cover). Deadline midday 8th March
5. What we’re reading, watching and listening to
- Ministers and local councillors in Inverness have published an open letter urging a compassionate response to people seeking asylum set to be housed at Cameron Barracks.
- This piece highlights Lord Alf Dubs’s criticism of the Home Secretary for “pulling up the drawbridge” on child refugees and his accusation of “kowtowing to Reform UK”
- The Big Issue’s list of 100 Changemakers features people doing amazing work to support people seeking safety in the UK – amid the constant barrage of hostility, reading about this brilliant work gives us hope. (And the list includes our very own campaigns manager, Dr Allan Njanji, of whom we are very proud).
