“It’s a factory of traumas,” says Sophie*, an asylum seeker speaking from a busy street outside her Home Office accommodation. “We are exposed, exploited, abused in so many ways.”
Sophie started her asylum claim in the UK in January 2020 and has moved across various forms of initial accommodation since.
From hotels to military barracks, the Home Office houses asylum seekers in ‘initial accommodation’ for what should be up to 35 days before they are dispersed into longer-term housing.
The accommodation is outsourced to private ‘providers’ Serco, Clearsprings and Mears, all responsible for different regions of the country.
The number of those living in initial accommodation has risen sharply, with around 9,500 living in hotels as of November 2020, compared to almost 4,400 in July, according to government statistics.
Trafficked to the UK in 2017, Sophie had hoped to find a safe haven within Britain’s borders. But her accommodation experiences have left her feeling far from safe.
Sophie alleges being sexually harassed by a manager of her Clearsprings [Ready Homes] hotel last year, but was too scared to report it. The truth only emerged when she was questioned by a paramedic, who helped her after she collapsed. The incident was reported to Migrant Help and, after the provider took a statement, she was moved to another hotel.
Clearsprings declined to comment on the allegation.
But this wasn’t a one-off, Sophie says, claiming others have faced similar experiences.
“Nobody wants to reject an invite from a manager,” she says. “We’re in a vulnerable position. We’re not in a position to refuse anything because they control our food, for example.”
When reporting another incident, Sophie says staff accused her of “seeing things” due to her depression and trauma, dismissing her complaints.
“It's a systemic issue,” says Maddie Harris, director and founder of Human for Rights Network, a charity that documents rights violations against refugees, asylum seekers and migrants.
Harris says harassment is widespread, with reports of racism, threats and cultural insensitivity a “common theme”.
“It’s an abuse of power,” she says. “You've got security guards, private contractors, who are responsible for a large group of people with a range of vulnerabilities and they're completely ill-equipped to do so.”
A 2018 government report into the management of asylum accommodation outlined such mistreatment, with asylum seekers reporting feeling looked down upon by staff, disbelieved when reporting concerns, and perceived as “immigrants getting something for free”.
Despite the Home Office having updated contracts since, charities still receive similar reports.
Red Cross Report (2019) outlines barriers to complaints / Credit: Red Cross
While the Home Office says it welcomes criticism, barriers can prevent asylum seekers from speaking out.
According to the Red Cross, fears of authority discourage asylum seekers from complaining, with many having experienced persecution from officials in their countries of origin.
“Everybody is terrified of the police, so nobody will ever call [them],” Sophie says. “We feel like we’re bothering the people in this country already.”
Other obstacles in the report included lack of confidence, lack of awareness and fear of repercussions. Due to the latter, many worry that complaining could make their situation worse.
“They may listen to you, but the backlash [is] extremely worse than the things we are already experiencing,” Sophie says. “I worry about the people that complain.”
Recent media reports revealed intimidation of asylum seekers held at military barracks in Kent and Pembrokeshire, highlighting allegations that providers threaten those who complain or “misbehave”.
According to Harris, residents are told that asylum claims may be jeopardised if they choose to speak out, a threat which is not legally true.
An Iranian asylum seeker, who did not wish to be named, was previously held at the Napier Barracks in Kent. He says he witnessed guards intimidating asylum seekers when a reporter attempted to interview them across the facility’s fences.
“The guards threatened that if you talked to the reporter your asylum programme would be in trouble,” he says.
He says the accommodation, operated by Clearsprings, triggered his “severe depression” and psychological trauma. After a doctor and lawyer intervened, he was moved to a hotel.
Charities and residents have contested conditions in the barracks since they were first used in September 2020. A fire, started by asylum seekers inside the camp in January, caused controversy, with home secretary Priti Patel describing the incident as ‘deeply offensive to the taxpayers of this country’.
A statement released by asylum seekers living inside the barracks condemned the use of violence, stating: “The incident was not something that we all wanted to happen.
“Each of us react in our own unique way when we are desperate and disappointed. Some may protest peacefully, some refuse to eat, some commit suicide and when you are even more ignored, some may lose control.”
Robert McNeil, deputy director and head of communications at the Migration Observatory, says it's difficult to know who to blame for mistreatment due to the various institutions involved in housing asylum seekers.
They may choose to report concerns to hotel staff, accommodation providers, or the Home Office. But local authorities, NGO’s, and community members also have a part to play.
“All of these are part of a process of looking after people, but they're also a part of passing the buck and that creates a complicated situation,” McNeil says.
“There isn't one body and that's the problem. Across all kinds of situations like this, [...] people can fall through cracks and asylum seekers are in that situation.”
Harris, Human for Right Network’s founder, agrees, arguing that the system is convoluted for those who need advice.
“Migrant Help will say it's Clearsprings, Clearsprings will say it's Migrant Help, Migrant Help will say it's the Home Office,” she says. “They kind of step behind each other every time.”
This lack of support can have a profound impact and self-harm and suicide attempts are widespread, she says.
A report by mental health charity Mind UK found the asylum process to have the most significant impact on asylum seekers’ mental health, heightening pre-existing psychological traumas.
“We leave the process broken and traumatised,” Sophie says. “I sincerely don't believe we will ever be the same.”
In a statement, immigration minister Chris Philp said: “The Government takes the wellbeing of asylum seekers extremely seriously. [...] We have a robust complaints process where the people who we support or people representing them can raise concerns.”
The Home Office awarded a contract to charity Migrant Help, providing a 24-hour helpline for asylum seekers to report accommodation issues.
But Harris says long wait times for the line can be off-putting. She believes that neglect of asylum seekers is an attempt to make the country appear inhospitable to others wishing to claim asylum.
“The Home Office is weaponising people [...] as a way of making an example to others who are not welcome,” she says. “They're human beings, and they're caught up in a really revolting political nightmare.”
The asylum process is “dehumanising”, Sophie says, arguing that it has long-term impacts on her and others in her position, including those who are granted refugee status.
“The only place to seek asylum is more degrading, dangerous and precarious than the situation you are fleeing from,” she says.
“We become, by an ostensive effort from the Home Office, what the far-right always thought we were; a weight on the economy, non-profit, hotel-caged breathing animals.”
*A pseudonym has been used for Sophie, who asked to remain anonymous
Comments