On Monday 30 September 2019, the Churches’ Refugee Network (CRN) hosted a groundbreaking meeting at St Andrews Church, in south London, on the United Kingdom’s current asylum system. The gathering included key personnel from the Home Office who spoke to a packed audience from across the four nations, about the asylum system’s values, working practices and engagement with clients.
The CRN, which encourages churches in Britain and Ireland to confidently engage with all issues linked to asylum, immigration and refugees, invited Home Office staff to its meeting to help demystify a system that can often be befuddling for those applying for asylum. At the meeting’s outset, the Home Office civil servants mentioned that this forum was a first for them, and they indicated that they were keen to listen to attendees’ concerns and suggestions.
After the civil servants’ presentation, three asylum seekers spoke movingly about their experiences of the system, which at times appeared at odds with the Home Office portrayal of the service. During the later panel discussion, contributions from colleagues from Scotland and Ireland enabled attendees to assess the degree to which the system differed in the various nations. Collectively, the panelists spoke about their experiences of asylum, and the ways they thought it could be improved for users, as well as those supporting them. Finally, the floor was opened to the room with many keen to question the civil servants on the points they raised during their presentation.
While all conversations remained polite and to the point, it became apparent that many users believed the asylum system was ‘unnecessarily confusing’ and ‘unfriendly to the point of being hostile’. On several occasions it was pointed out that for those who are new to the country and often struggling with English, the system’s requisite bureaucracy and tardiness in decision-making, proved frustrating and disheartening.
However, there was universal agreement that the civil servants’ presence provided faces and names to a system that is often bereft of both. For their part, the civil servants welcomed all suggestions and recognized the roles of churches and para church groups in making the system fairer at the point of use. It was agreed that members of the CRN will meet with Home Office staff to discuss how best to take forward some of the outstanding matters raised during the meeting.
