Member Briefing: Asylum Dispersal

  • By Eva Barnsley

Background

In March 2022, the government announced its decision to move to a full asylum dispersal model supported by grant funding. As part of this move, an initial allocation of £3,500 per person was provided to LAs for each new dispersal accommodation (DA) bed space occupied until 31 March 2023. The Home Office has conducted a burdens assessment to understand the wider funding pressures for LAs supporting asylum seekers, but we still await clarity on the funding for the next financial year.

The aim of this new asylum dispersal model is to have a fairer distribution of asylum seekers across the UK and move people out of hotels. A more equitable asylum system will help to prevent disproportionate pressures falling upon certain local authorities and enable better support for asylum seekers.

Each region in the UK has been given an allocation of asylum seekers proportionate to their population size and has been asked to agree a plan for dispersal (or have the Home Office implement its own plan for the region); details of the London Plan are below. The Home Office allocation for London is 6,344 additional dispersal accommodation (DA) bedspaces by the end of 2023. Whilst this means an increase of DA in London, the overall asylum population in London will significantly decrease because there is currently a disproportionate number of asylum seekers in hotels in London.

The London Multi-Factor Model

Through the summer of 2022, London Councils worked with senior borough officers and members as well as with the London Strategic Migration Partnership to consider a London approach to regional dispersal under the national policy. Those discussion took account of a range of existing and ongoing pressures, including existing asylum and refugee populations, housing and homelessness, so that London was able to achieve a balanced and nuanced way of sharing responsibilities.  

In October 2022, London Leaders agreed to use a multi-factor model to fairly distribute London’s asylum allocation. The model works on the principle that the more pressures a borough faces, the lower their asylum allocation will be and includes the following data factors:

  •  Asylum pressures data (number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC), UASC care leavers and asylum seekers in DA, IA and hotels)
  • Housing data (numbers in temporary accommodation, number of properties available at LHA, number of homelessness presentations and those prevented from homelessness by the LA)
  • Refugee/Evacuee pressures data (Homes for Ukraine data, numbers of Afghan evacuees in hotels and resettled by LAs, and number of refugees resettled on specified schemes between 2016-2021)

All Leaders also support applying a threshold of 1 in 200 (0.5%) that prevents any borough with an asylum population of over 0.5% of their general population from receiving further allocations (currently London boroughs Hillingdon and Hounslow are over the threshold). Leaders have also agreed to a sequencing approach, whereby the London boroughs that are furthest from their 1 in 200 threshold, are prioritised for asylum placements in DA as part of their fair share allocation.

Alongside the multi-factor model, London Leaders have agreed upon a set of key principles to ensure there is a place-based approach to asylum dispersal in London. This includes ensuring long-term resourcing of the statutory/voluntary sectors, giving attention to the holistic experiences and needs of refugees and asylum seekers, encouraging the government to stop creating siloed solutions for different refugee and asylum populations, and working in partnership with government /others, including to address housing supply issues.

In November 2022, Clearsprings and the Home Office agreed to the London Asylum Dispersal Plan, however, the Home Office have only recently gone ‘live’ with the plans.

London Asylum Dispersal Plan Going ‘Live’

Since the Regional Dispersal Plans have been agreed, local authorities have been waiting for the Home Office to officially progress with plans (i.e. to go ‘live’). On Thursday 9th March 2023, boroughs were issued their asylum dispersal allocations. (Please see the borough allocations in Appendix A).

Now that the London Asylum Dispersal Plan is ‘live’, Clearsprings and the Home Office have agreed to procure in line with the borough allocations.

The Home Office should also consider the ‘Place-Based Approach and Principles’ that have been agreed by London boroughs, and the delivery of the plan will be subject to monitoring and accountability.

Accountability structure for the model

Improved partnership working means transparency of forward planning by the Home Office, effective data-sharing, accountability for Clearspring’s procurement practice, and more collaboration in pursuit of shared goals.

To that end, an oversight group has been established to ensure that the London Asylum Plan is delivered in line with the place-based principles agreed upon by Leaders. This group will include borough representation, GLA and the LSMP (London Strategic Migration Partnership), Home Office and Clearsprings representatives. This group will feed into the London Strategic Migration Partnership Meeting, London’s most senior immigration meeting.

London Councils has established a local government working group, to assess how Clearsprings procurement is progressing against the target asylum allocation in each borough, and to identify key challenges regarding safeguarding, public health, housing and asylum support in line with procurement practice. This group will report to the oversight group and London Councils’ Leaders’ Committee, and will escalate all key issues via the Oversight Group. There will also be a data team to up-date the multi-factor model data.

Current asylum challenges and a summary of our key asks of government

The implementation of the asylum dispersal plans will help to prevent cumulative asylum pressures from escalating in particular local authorities, and enable better support for asylum seekers, but there a number of pressing issues to address alongside asylum dispersal. London Councils’ key asks are summarised below.

Data-sharing with local authorities and safeguarding asylum arrivals

  • Clearsprings share personal data on asylum arrivals in all asylum accommodation settings (including hotels and DA) with local authorities and health partners.
  • Local authorities are consulted on the safeguarding protocol and local risk assessments of asylum accommodation - and clearsprings share information regarding safeguarding referrals with local authorities.
  • A substantive review of the age-assessment process to help identify why children are being mistakenly assessed as adults at the border, and broader consultation with local authorities to ensure processes/ sufficient resources are in place for local authorities to support unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. 
  • Clearsprings share information on asylum accommodation being considered and the number of placements required as early as possible to ensure councils are properly consulted (local authorities should now receive at least 24-hour notice before asylum arrivals, but this does not go far enough).

Consultation with local authorities around dispersal, procurement, a ‘place-based approach’ and new policies

  • To work with local authorities to establish a clear mechanism to monitor the procurement practice of Clearsprings in relation to the asylum dispersal plan and place-based principles. London Councils are looking to ensure Clearsprings/Home Office procure accommodation in line with local standards (i.e. by participating in systems, training and standards facilitated by the ‘Setting the Standard’ programme) and IBAA rent levels.
  • For local authorities to receive clarity on asylum funding (which includes funding for asylum seekers in all types of accommodation), in line with the findings from the Home Office’s burdens assessment.
  • Home Office consults local authorities on how best to manage pressures regarding the new streamlined asylum process, which will enable people from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya, Syria and Yemen with legacy asylum claims (i.e. who applied for asylum before July 2022) to fast-track their asylum case; this includes staggering cases, to avoid a spike in positive decisions which could result in increased housing/homelessness pressures.

Medium to Long-Term Asks of Government

  • Joint working on ways to increase affordable accommodation supply, building on the introduction of the new £500 million refugee housing acquisitions programme
  •  Allowing temporary leave to remain (including work permits) for asylum seekers, so they can integrate and contribute to the economy whilst they wait for their asylum claim to be processed.
  • Cross-departmental working in government and coordination with other refugee/resettlement programmes to take account of the cumulative impact on local areas, including from Afghan evacuees and Ukrainian arrivals.

 

Commentary

We welcome the move towards a more equitable asylum system in the UK, particularly now that the local authority allocations as part of the regional dispersal plans have gone ‘live’. However, as is demonstrated above, there are still a number of asylum-related challenges to address to ensure that London boroughs are appropriately supported and do not face disproportionate pressures, and to enable asylum seekers to integrate and have their needs met holistically. This includes having regular dataflows and transparency between the Home Office and local authorities, effective monitoring and accountability processes established, and strong communication lines between local experience and regional oversight through London Councils.

There are also immediate challenges concerning the lack of affordable housing supply which need fast-paced mitigations and initiatives as well as long term strategies, requiring close partnership work and problem-solving. Furthermore, these asylum-related challenges should be viewed alongside wider refugee and societal challenges to ensure a truly place-based approach to asylum dispersal. Finally, as the weather improves in the Spring and Summer, the inflow of asylum seekers will increase, therefore, it is vital that progress is made in line with the allocations as soon as possible if we are to have a more sustainable system that moves away from the reliance on hotels.

 

Appendix A - London Borough Asylum Dispersal Allocations 

These allocations were shared with London borough Chief Executives on 9th March 2023, alongside a paper to explain the data calculations in the model, the wider London Asylum Dispersal Plan agreement, and the London ‘Place-Based Approach’ paper.

 

Area Codes

Boroughs

Final Allocations of Asylum Seekers

Closeness to 0.5% Threshold (Total Asylum Population, with Suggested Allocations

E09000002

Barking and Dagenham

180

71%

E09000003

Barnet

239

73%

E09000004

Bexley

289

33%

E09000005

Brent

233

55%

E09000006

Bromley

291

26%

E09000007

Camden

79

68%

E09000008

Croydon

200

71%

E09000009

Ealing

203

62%

E09000010

Enfield

218

34%

E09000011

Greenwich

203

54%

E09000012

Hackney

230

65%

E09000013

Hammersmith and Fulham

169

38%

E09000014

Haringey

192

43%

E09000015

Harrow

254

49%

E09000016

Havering

267

44%

E09000017

Hillingdon

0

132%

E09000018

Hounslow

0

149%

E09000019

Islington

150

94%

E09000020

Kensington and Chelsea

0

113%

E09000021

Kingston upon Thames

273

48%

E09000022

Lambeth

194

50%

E09000023

Lewisham

184

32%

E09000024

Merton

247

55%

E09000025

Newham

179

89%

E09000026

Redbridge

218

83%

E09000027

Richmond upon Thames

276

30%

E09000028

Southwark

186

81%

E09000029

Sutton

268

26%

E09000030

Tower Hamlets

257

71%

E09000031

Waltham Forest

215

67%

E09000032

Wandsworth

275

17%

E09000033

Westminster

173

100%

Total

                                             6,344

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eva Barnsley, Principal Policy and Project Officer - Health, Wellbeing and Care Team