Campaign

WRITE TO YOUR MP

Restore refugees' right to work

An urgent and necessary reform needs to be made to the asylum system: restoring the right to work for asylum seekers. It was under Tony Blair’s Labour government that asylum seekers were denied access to the mainstream benefits system in 1999, and had their right to work severely restricted in 2002.

The ban on asylum seekers working has a detrimental long-term impact on their wellbeing and creates a more costly system for taxpayers. It has been estimated that lifting the ban and allowing asylum seekers to work, as many other European countries do, could represent a net gain to government finances of around £280 million per year.

Other European countries can be a model for a better British approach to managing the asylum system as regards the right to work. In France, asylum seekers may apply for a work permit after just six months in the system. Meanwhile in Spain, not only are asylum seekers permitted to work after six months, but Spanish language and training courses are held in asylum seeker accommodation centres in order to support people into areas of work where there are shortages and a need for labour.

We urgently need to improve the asylum system and I urge you to support the right to work for asylum seekers and pressure the government to enact legislation that enables them to do so.