A low-paid carer from Ghana has cancelled all the benefits she is legally entitled to, including the disability allowance one of her children receives, owing to fears about her immigration status after the policy changes announced by the home secretary.
The radical changes to legal migration announced by Shabana Mahmood on 20 November will penalise those who are living and working legally in the UK, but who claim benefits.
In what is thought to be the first case of its kind since the announcement, the carer, who has three children, has asked officials to cancel the in-work benefits she receives. This includes housing benefit and universal credit because she is on a low income, along with the disability living allowance (DLA) of £103.10 a week her eight-year-old daughter, who is autistic, receives to assist with personal care and mobility.
Previously, many people were able to apply for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) after five years. The government announcement has extended the timeframe before many can apply for this.
The carer is among those on what is known as the “10-year route”, whereby people have to pay thousands to renew their temporary leave to remain every 30 months for a decade before being eligible for ILR. Under the proposed changes the period before they can apply has been extended to 20 years.
The government has also proposed that those who have accessed benefits for more than 12 months will face a 20-year wait, extended from the current five years under certain visa routes.
The woman, who has completed nine of her 10 years, said lawyers from her community had been circulating TikTok videos warning people about how their eligibility for ILR would be significantly impacted if they claimed benefits.
“I heard about these changes and decided to cancel all my benefits,” she said. “The only way I will be able to manage to pay my rent and feed my children is if I increase my working hours as a carer to 60 hours a week. Some weeks I’m already working 50 hours, but I need to increase my hours now.
“My daughter, who is autistic, does not sleep much so I am constantly exhausted. My body is in so much pain. I need to try to get some medication from the doctor to deal with this pain so that I will be able to work the extra hours.”
She said she had only started claiming in-work benefits on the advice of her daughter’s school. “The teachers said I should work fewer hours so I could spend more time with my children. I’ve stopped the benefits, even though I need them because I’m so scared I will not be able to get my settlement in the UK.
“It feels so unfair that I accessed benefits because I’m on a low wage and now that is being used against me. It was a difficult decision to ask for my benefits to be stopped, especially my daughter’s DLA, but I didn’t know what else I could do. I don’t have a voice.”
Nick Beales, the head of campaigning at the charity Ramfel (Refugee and Migrant Forum of Essex and London), which is providing support for the woman said: “The government’s ‘earned settlement’ plans clearly discriminate against south Asian, African and Caribbean migrants, who make up the vast majority of people on the existing 10-year route to settlement. The intersection between classism and racism is clear, with the government making clear that they consider lower-paid work as less valuable and worthwhile.
“People such as this woman now face a stark choice: continue receiving essential state support issued to her disabled child and lock herself out of permanent immigration status or sacrifice that support to her child’s detriment in the hope that she will still eventually secure permanent status. Her case is not an isolated incident.”
A government spokesperson said: “As the home secretary has set out, under our proposed new settlement model, individuals will have the opportunity to reduce the qualifying period to settlement and citizenship based on contributions to the UK economy and society. We have launched the consultation and encourage overseas workers to take part.”
