The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is urging the government to change the law so asylum seekers can work and lift themselves out of poverty.
The campaign comes on the back of a new report, Like any other child?, published today from children’s charity Barnardo’s.
Commenting, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “Banning asylum seekers from working condemns them and their families to poverty while they await the outcome of their asylum claims. With cases often taking months and even years to resolve, asylum seekers face the stark choice of trying to survive on meagre benefits, paid at a lower rate than everyone else, or of exploitation at the hands of unscrupulous employers in the informal economy.”
Barber said that allowing asylum seekers to work would also allow them to regain some of their dignity and enable them to start rebuilding their lives.
“More importantly, by the time many achieve refugee status and are allowed to stay in the UK, many asylum seekers have been out of the job market for so long they lack the confidence and the necessary skills to go out and find decent, well-paid work. The TUC will continue to work with Barnardo’s and other organisations to press ministers to change the law and let asylum seekers start making the contribution they want to make to the UK economy.”
