💥REFUGEE ACTION'S MOST WANTED💥

Did you know that the UK asylum system is run for profit?

We're revealing our Most Wanted, the companies profiting from refugees' misery.

Thread below👇 Refugee Action's Most Wanted are:

Clearsprings, Mears, Serco and Corporate Travel Management (CTM).

These companies are paid billions in public money to run the cruel system that the government has devised.

We spoke to @NationalWorld about what we think a compassionate, accessible and workable asylum system could look like – and why an approach based on hostility and deterrence is cruel, costly, and won’t stop refugees risking their lives to reach the UK to claim asylum. Our policy and research manager @_tarapovey told @ImogenHowse that a compassionate system is one where people are believed, welcomed, and treated with dignity - and are able to start rebuilding their lives.

#StandUpForAsylum

COSTILITY: the cost of hostility. The public money wasted by governments on being hostile to refugees and people seeking asylum.

Billions of pounds is being thrown away on deterrents that both don't work and are indefensibly cruel.

We call this costility. 🧵... The biggest cost of hostile policies is the damage done to people seeking safety, but the cost in terms of the public money wasted is huge as well.

Here are some examples of costility and why it's such a terrible approach.

Giving people seeking asylum the right to work is worth £300 million a year to the Treasury.

So today we're asking: Jeremy Hunt, do you want this cheque?

#LiftTheBan #AutumnStatement Here's how we reached the figure of £300 million. 🧮

It's based on national insurance and income tax contributions if half of the 69,593 working-age people waiting more than six months for a decision on their asylum claim found work.

After weeks of dither and delay the Gov's plan to protect people fleeing the war in Ukraine fails to match the need of the moment and the compassion of the public.

In fact, it's a massive downgrade from the UK’s previous support for refugees – and may even put them at risk.🧵 Community sponsorship is an important part of any protection system and a great way for people to show their support – but it can only ever be a drop in the ocean of what's needed.

Current sponsorship schemes take 150 refugees a year in total. 2.5 million Ukrainians have fled.

This clause allows refugees to be treated differently just because of how they travelled to the UK.

Regardless of their need for safety, some refugees will only be given temporary protection and fewer rights than others. As a result, anyone claiming asylum who has had to pass through another country (I.e. the MAJORITY) will be discriminated against after they are granted refugee status.

Are you finding it politically unrewarding to run an asylum system that keeps people safe? It’s hard! We’ve got the solution for the ambitious politician... BÖRDER KRISÍS!

Build it yourself and see how useful it can be to justify things like an #AntiRefugeeBill. Instructions⬇️ Here’s what you’ll need to get started on your BÖRDER KRISÍS.

We know that the asylum system is failing people seeking safety. But the changes proposed by @pritipatel are a wrecking ball to the right to claim asylum and will deepen the injustices we already see. It's the biggest attack on the right to claim asylum we've ever seen in the UK. People fleeing for their lives have little choice in how they seek safety. There is no ‘wrong type’ of refugee. But these reforms punish refugees for how they enter the country, creating one rule for some, and a different rule for others.

We do not know the experiences, backgrounds and personal stories of every person trying to cross the English Channel. But it is clear that many of them intend to claim asylum in the UK. 1/12 Most of us are fortunate enough to be unaware of what it’s like to have family members murdered, your home destroyed or to undergo torture. Many of these people are not. 2/12

Giving people seeking asylum the right to work is common sense. The new #LiftTheBan coalition report shows how clear the evidence is. We’d challenge anyone to read this thread summarising the report and disagree. 1/13

refugee-action.org.uk/common-sense/ The case for lifting the ban has always been strong, but our new findings make it undeniable. Giving people seeking the right to work now would benefit the treasury to the tune of £97.8 million per year. More than double our 2018 estimate. 2/13

On Monday, Immigration Minister @CPhilpOfficial defended the decision to increase Asylum Support by just 26p per day, keeping it under £40 per week, after 12 weeks of deliberation in a deadly pandemic.

Well, we’ve done some calculations of our own...

#StandUpForAsylum This is a picture of an item of the same value as the daily increase in Asylum Support.

We’re not trying to be funny – this is beyond a joke. A Freddo is genuinely one of the very few things you can buy for 26 pence.

People seeking asylum in the UK are banned from working. This thread explains why we should #LiftTheBan and give them the right to work. 1/12 Firstly, they desperately want to work - to provide for their families and contribute to the country that’s sheltering them as they wait for the outcome of their claim. 2/12