Solution Seeking: Innovative Approaches to Migrant Destitution

A summary and quick analysis of the recently published Joseph Rowntree Foundation report; ‘Destitution in the UK 2023’ as it pertains to refugees, people seeking asylum and migrants.

People who are destitute are defined as those who ‘cannot afford what they need to meet their most basic physical needs to stay warm, dry, clean and fed’.  For speed, I am using the term ‘migrant’ to cover all types of migration, including refugees, people seeking asylum and other migrants.  The number of households experiencing destitution between 2019 and 2022 increased by a huge 64%.  Accompanying this shocking rise was an 88% increase in the number of children in these destitute households.  Of all groups identified in the study, the largest percentage increase in destitution was a 95% rise in migrant households.

Migrant Destitution

Migrants are disproportionately affected by destitution and children are present in a high proportion of these households.  Migrant children account for a significant part of the near-doubling of children affected by destitution between 2019 and 2022.

Migrants are almost as likely to be supported by food banks as people with complex needs (40% as compared to 43%).

Definition: ‘Complex Needs’ - experiencing two or more of; homelessness, drug and/or alcohol problems, offending, domestic violence or begging.

Looking at that another way, simply being a migrant makes you as likely to need food bank support as those affected by homelessness, substance misuse, offending and domestic violence.

London has particularly high levels of migrant destitution compared to other towns and cities in the UK, closely followed by; Leicester, Coventry, Manchester, Nottingham, Glasgow and Luton.

Access to Support

Migrants continue to be seriously and increasingly disadvantaged in access to both cash and in-kind forms of support.  This group were most likely to have no source of money at all and were noticeably worse off than other groups (only 49% received income from benefits).

Destitute migrants received support much less frequently from family, friends and Local Welfare Funds, and were the group most likely to report no in-kind support.  Migrants are less likely to have family in the UK they can draw on for help and are less likely to be eligible for governmental support (e.g. local welfare funds).

Food banks are the only significant source of in-kind support for destitute migrants, with 40% of respondents supported in this way.

Photo by Anete Lusina

Ethnicity

Black households were three times more likely to be destitute (12%) than their population share (4%).  Contrastingly, white households were less likely to be destitute (74%) than their population share (82%).

For those without complex needs, white migrants are less likely to be destitute (31%) than minority ethnic migrants (69% - Asian followed by Black groups).  There is a strong association between ethnicity and migration regarding destitution. For Black, Asian and ‘other’ ethnicities, a clear majority of destitute respondents were also migrants.  This means that migrants from ethnic minorities are much more likely to experience destitution than white migrants or those born in the UK.

These insights on ethnicity highlight the need for an intersectional approach when addressing destitution in the UK.

Recommendations

1. The JRF report emphasises the need for cash-first emergency assistance together with the necessary advice services to alleviate destitution.

2. The authors advocate for access to emergency assistance regardless of recourse to public funds (and say local authorities should be funded to provide this).

3. The report recommends that the Government should cease making migrants and refugees ‘destitute by design’ as a public policy tool.

4. They recommend an immediate lifting of the ban on working for people seeking asylum (or at least reducing waiting time to 6 months before permission can be requested) with access to an unrestricted list of occupations.

5. They call for collaboration between local authorities, charities, funders and housing providers to prevent destitution and homelessness for those with limited eligibility / NRPF.