Asylum Help

On Thursday, 24th April I attended a presentation at the Friend's Meeting House about the new Asylum Help service, which has recently been awarded the National Asylum Support contract. I've written up the notes I took here, and attached them alongside the powerpoint slides, which they have now shared with us, and their definition of vulnerability. I also emailed Migrant Help a couple of additional questions which I didn't have time to ask on the day....this is why it's taken a while to get the notes up, but I've now had the following response:

Q - At the meeting, there were concerns raised about a largely telephone-based service offering support if someone has a letter which they can’t interpret, as the adviser cannot see the letter. While it was explained that people in this scenario would either have a rough gist of the letter’s content, or would need to work with a friend/family member to have them explain the rough idea, how will Asylum Help be able to assist people without this support network?

As you rightly say, most clients will have someone to help them understand the letter or to explain it to the helpline adviser – this can be a friend or family member or a community or voluntary sector organisation. If it is a letter from the Home Office (and most probably will be), we can also request a copy of this letter to be sent to us.

Q - Similarly, on the Application Support helpline, how will advisers manage to support without being able to see an applicant’s supporting documentation to fully understand the circumstances?

Our advisers will explain to clients which documents they need for their application. In case where we need to see the original document, we will send a free post envelope to the client so that they can send us the document – this is a special delivery arrangements and the document will be returned to the client the same way.

Q - It was clear that Asylum Help are keen to make links with other agencies which can support clients face-to-face; do you have a list of these agencies? Additionally, if agencies also want to make links with Asylum Help to ensure clients are getting a well-rounded, joined up service, is there someone they can contact? We work with a wide network of advice agencies across the city, some of whom may be keen to make connections.

The Community Liaison Officer responsible for your region will be collating all this information and will be responsible for building partnership and putting referral mechanisms in place. This person will be in post by the end of May and we will distribute his/her contact details as soon as possible.

 

Links to the notes and presentations are here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1aWoCJw0ptPLTNiVWwyaFZsb0k/edit?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1aWoCJw0ptPXzZVVWJrR0lwWEk/edit?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1aWoCJw0ptPWWhURzQ4OHBzWm8/edit?usp=sharing