“Our service users were all living on the margins before Covid-19, and this crisis has exacerbated their problems,” says Sally Daghlian, chief executive of Praxis. The charity, closely involved in uncovering the Windrush scandal, provides direct support for some 2,000 migrants and refugees a year, as well as training other providers and campaigning for changes in policy.
Aware that not only current clients but many former clients too might struggle with self-isolation, lockdown and the closure of support centres, Praxis quickly started a new project. Six trained volunteers have been phoning ex-service users to assess their needs, provide advice and send out food parcels, as well as phones and tablets to allow these vulnerable people to stay connected as support and schooling moved online.
Praxis has also been giving out emergency grants. Thousands of non-EU migrants, who require visas to work or study here, have a visa condition of “no recourse to public funds” (NRPF), so they cannot access any benefits, or Covid-19 crisis government support schemes, says Daghlian. “NRPF should have been suspended at the start of this pandemic and it should be suspended now. It is causing enormous stress, hunger, and may lead to homelessness.”
Stephen Timms, the Labour MP for Newham, has even said that NRPF has “undoubtedly contributed to the scale of Covid-19 fatalities” in his constituency. It may also pose a risk to all our health, continues Daghlian: “If you can’t feed yourself without working, you will go to work if you possibly can, even if you’ve been exposed to Covid-19 or have symptoms.”
Migrants make up a disproportionate number of the workers in the frontline of the Covid crisis. In 2019, around 20% of health workers were migrants, along with 18% of those in social care and 26% in the transport and storage sectors. They are also more likely than others to work in insecure employment.
“Some migrants have worked here for years (and paid taxes) and NRPF hasn’t been a problem,” Daghlian continues, “but when a crisis like Covid-19 comes along and they lose their job, or worse, the family breadwinner, there’s no safety net.”
Families who have lost their income may resort to using money saved for their next visa renewal, says Daghlian. Non-EU migrants (and potentially EU citizens as well after the Brexit transition period ends) must renew their visas periodically: in many cases every 2.5 years until they have been here 10 years and are able to apply for indefinite leave to remain. Each renewal can cost a family thousands of pounds, says Daghlian: “The government is profiteering. They have raised fees to extortionate levels that are causing real hardship.”
She cites the example of Praxis client Michelle (not her real name) from west Africa, who has two British children and works for the NHS in what the government would call an “unskilled” role. “She has been cleaning Covid-19 wards and feeding Covid patients” explains Daghlian. “We clap every Thursday, but she was still expected to pay £2,000 to renew her visa (which expired earlier this month) and £1,000 of that was an NHS surcharge, required on top of her tax and national insurance, to allow her access to the NHS”.
Following pressure from all sides, the government last week dropped the NHS surcharge for all those working in the health service, but it is not yet clear if this is retrospective. And while visas are being automatically renewed for many health workers and some social care staff until October, this does not apply to support staff, such as cleaners and hospital porters.
The charity is helping Michelle apply for a fee waiver on grounds of destitution. Her case may be helped by a new court ruling that the Home Office’s definition of inability to pay is too harsh. Applying for a waiver is complex, says Daghlian, and without support, some destitute migrants simply fail to renew their visas, becoming undocumented migrants with no rights at all – unable to legally work, rent a room, open a bank account or fully use the NHS.
Some migrants are too scared to seek healthcare, says Daghlian. “Everyone is meant to be entitled to GP care and A&E does not turn people away, but a bill may be sent for hospital treatment. This terrifies migrants who have no money, and if the bill isn’t paid in quite a short time, this is reported to the Home Office and can affect their application to remain.”
Although the government has stated that nobody will be charged for testing or treatment for Covid-19, Daghlian says not everyone knows this and “I am sure there are migrants with the disease too afraid to go to the doctor.”
Particularly after Windrush, which saw thousands of legitimate UK residents treated as undocumented illegals, people are not confident of fair treatment. “The government sat on the Windrush Lessons Learned review for a year,” says Daghlian, “then finally published it in the midst of Covid-19. And the lessons haven’t been learned.”
“We are now seeing a Windrush-in-the-making with EU citizens,” she says, “Many do not realise that even if they have been here for decades and have permanent residence cards, they have to apply under the settlement scheme or they will become undocumented.”
And one of the problems with Windrush (ongoing for some) was that people did not have the documents to prove they were legal. Now, EU migrants are not being given any physical document to prove their status. “This is storing up trouble for the future” she says.
Daghlian’s own family background – her paternal grandparents survived the Armenian genocide (1915-23) – makes her very aware of “the impact of xenophobia and nationalism” and the importance of the right to refuge and migration.
Covid-19 has exaggerated the issues Praxis addresses but, Daghlian says, “there was already a tsunami of need … deprivation, homelessness, people refused leave to remain who end up stateless, and a system so complex even the lawyers sometimes struggle to keep up.”
With most immigration work now ineligible for legal aid, the pressure on free services like that provided by Praxis’s 20 expert advisers and solicitors, is enormous.
Praxis is also keen to retain some of the gains made for the homeless through the emergency hotel accommodation scheme. Daghlian welcomes the government’s announcement on Sunday that it plans to build 3,300 new units in the next 12 months to accommodate rough sleepers taken off the streets during the crisis in England, but adds she hopes it will include those from migrant backgrounds.
“Homelessness in England has been rising fast for some time, and migrant homelessness is a big part of that, especially in London. But this isn’t inevitable,” she insists, “It’s the result of a system that has stopped valuing people and become ideological, numerical, dysfunctional and cruel.”
“Covid-19 has shown what can be done when there is political will. It is an opportunity to recalibrate. We must make sure we retain the positives.”
Curriculum vitae
Age: 61.
Family: one son and two grandchildren.
Lives: London.
Education: Bishopbriggs High School, Scotland; University of Glasgow 1976-81 (MA French and social sciences)
Career: 2014-present: chief executive, Praxis; 2010-14: freelance consultant to NGOs; 2009-10: sabbatical; 2008-9: chair, European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE); 1998-2008: chief executive, Scottish Refugee Council; 1992-98: West Scotland manager, Scottish Refugee Council; 1989-92: community health development officer, community development and health project, Community Development Foundation; 1983-87: tutor, the Workers’ Educational Association; 1981-89 social policy researcher, Glasgow University, Scottish Ethnic Minorities Resource Unit, Glasgow Special Housing Group.
Interests: Flamenco, yoga.
