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Asylum seekers access to social care services

Exploring the structural barriers often faced by marginalised groups, including asylum seekers, in accessing adult social care services

Key Messages:

  • Dignity in service delivery: The framework focuses on embedding dignity into service delivery for individuals facing crises, such as those impacted by homelessness, health crises, or other emergencies.
  • Person-centred care: It emphasises person-centred care, recognising individual and community needs, particularly the importance of psychosocial support and cash assistance to maintain dignity during crises.
  • Collaborative practices: The framework advocates for integrating efforts from various sectors and actively engaging communities in the planning, delivery, and evaluation of support services.
  • Training for frontline staff: Training and tools for frontline staff are highlighted as essential for understanding and applying dignity principles effectively.
  • Role of government and organisations: The report stresses the role of government and organisations in creating a culture of respect and understanding to reduce stigma and ensure inclusive, accessible service delivery.

Commentary:

The “Delivering with Dignity” framework plays a key role in advancing social care equity by promoting inclusive, person-centred care approaches. It addresses the structural barriers and stigma often faced by marginalised groups, including asylum seekers. The framework’s focus on dignity is critical in reducing disparities caused by systemic inequities, especially in contexts where discrimination or cultural misunderstandings limit access to appropriate care.

By emphasising the importance of training for frontline staff, collaborative practices across sectors, and community engagement, the framework offers actionable strategies to reshape care environments. These recommendations aim to ensure equitable access to dignified support, aligning with broader social care equity goals. The integration of dignity principles into service delivery fosters an environment where all individuals, regardless of their background, can receive respectful and effective care.

Gaps/limitations:

There is a lack of intersectional research on the experiences of subgroups, such as disabled or LGBTQI+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning) asylum seekers. These groups’ specific barriers and enablers remain under-researched, often due to challenges in engaging such populations in research, leaving gaps in the evidence base.

Asylum and refugee support in the UK

The role of civil society in addressing gaps in welfare provision for asylum seekers and refugees

Key Messages:

  • Asylum seekers in the UK are excluded from the labour market and rely on welfare support, which is significantly below standard poverty thresholds. 
  • Civil society organisations, including charities and community groups, play a key role in providing essential support, filling gaps left by inadequate government provision. 
  • The current policy framework creates extreme poverty among asylum seekers, leading to breaches of fundamental human rights. 
  • The third sector response varies geographically, leading to disparities in support depending on location and available resources. 
  • Without structural policy changes, civil society will continue to carry a disproportionate burden in mitigating the effects of restrictive asylum policies.

Commentary:

This research highlights the structural inequities in the UK’s asylum and refugee support system, showing how restrictive policies create poverty and social exclusion. The inability of asylum seekers to work legally forces them into dependency on minimal welfare payments, which are set well below the standard poverty line. A key contribution of this study is its mapping of civil society responses to these gaps, illustrating how charities and local organisations provide critical support that the state does not. However, this reliance on third sector provision creates further inequities, as support availability depends on local capacity rather than consistent government policy.

The findings raise serious concerns about the human rights implications of current asylum policies. By creating conditions of extreme poverty, the system effectively limits access to adequate social care and basic services, leading to long-term social and health inequalities. While the research effectively critiques the gaps in state provision, further work is needed to explore the long-term sustainability of civil society-led support. Without systemic policy change, these organisations will continue to bear an increasing burden, further entrenching social care inequities for asylum seekers and refugees.