Alongside over 145 organisations, we signed a joint letter addressed to the Prime Minister warning that recently announced Home Office proposals would put hundreds of thousands of children, as well as young adults leaving care, at risk.
The letter highlights the proposed ‘earned settlement’ rules, which campaigners say could trap as many as 90,000 children already living in the UK in poverty and keep them in prolonged limbo. It also raises concerns about plans to make refugee status temporary and to make it easier to withdraw financial support from families and from young people leaving care who have been refused asylum.
All the organisations also condemned new ‘use of force’ proposals, currently under consultation, which could allow children to be handcuffed or physically forced onto removal flights – including in situations such as “a parent refusing to release a child’s hand” – describing these measures as “abhorrent”.
Andy Sirel, our Legal Director, said: “Every week we have families and young people contact us, worried about their futures. They are trying to understand how their lives will be affected by the current government’s proposals, and why. That question is key: why? What goal is punishing children achieving? We have clients who arrived as children, have immigration status, and are trying to get on with their lives, who will be in their 30s and 40s before they qualify for settlement. How does that achieve integration?”
