Ilona Pinter 🧡

Can't get more recent comparable data from the HO and it's not routinely published. Assuming this has gone down somewhat due to increased processing. But point stands that individuals & families including children will continue to spend a long time in limbo before accessing settlement & stability.

Important to note the 20yrs individuals & families will now need to wait to settle after getting refugee status will be ON TOP of waiting many yrs already. At yr end 2022, families w/ children on s95 support were receiving this for >3yrs on ave & 20% for +5yrs sticerd.lse.ac.uk/case/_new/pu...

which values immigration - all of which requires public confidence in the border control system. Rhetoric, and harsh and expensive distractions like temporary refugee status, won't impact dangerous crossings. A relentless focus on workable solutions will.

Check out my interview in The Guardian.

Asylum is not illegal migration – why the UK government shouldn’t conflate the two The new proposals transform settlement into something that must be continually earned. The path has become longer, more conditional and far more easily disrupted.

Asylum is not "illegal migration"
Let's start from here theconversation.com/asylum-is-no...

Broken Ladders The myth of meritocracy for women of colour in the workplace

In our #BrokenLadders report with @fawcettsociety.bsky.social, we advocate for measures that the government and employers must implement to tackle ethnicity and gender pay gaps - from introducing mandatory, intersectional pay gap reporting to tackling racism in organisations 👇

owl.ly/l5VW50XvR3o

Today is #EqualPayDay - the day when, due to the gender pay gap in average wages, women effectively stop earning compared to men.

However, our analysis shows that for many women of colour, this date falls considerably earlier in the year.

Do we know what the fee might be for those on refugee route switching to work/study protection route? Presumably also this new study route would mean international fees? Or we don't know?

Massively important point. These settlement changes will jeopardize any hopes many young people have of going to university without access to home fees or student finance. On top of what the longer term poverty will likely to mean for young people's earnings in adulthood.

On current fee levels I calculate that 5-year entry clearance, then 5-year extension (each with IHS), then settlement fees, would come to £16,649 for a single person. For a family of four (including partner and two children) it would be £58,267. (3)

Quite! And worse for families with children as CB has highest coverage.

Would they then be liable for the same penalties if they claimed benefits?

Grim. And that's if they have refugee status leave to remain rather than the new work/study protection route?

I thought they said it wouldn't apply to those already in the UK? How many people will that affect do you know?

The settlement consultation would seem to confirm that the switch to a 20 year route will apply to those already with refugee status. A refugee who got their status 4 years ago could, depending on timings, find themselves suddenly facing an extra 15 years, with status reviews every 30 months.

Spoken at the Resolution Foundation on 12th November 2025

Our participant Tayyba recently delivered a powerful speech at a roundtable at @resolutionfoundation.org. The powerful speech touched on single parenthood, in-work poverty and domestic violence and why we need to centre and protect our children's futures: changingrealities.org/writings/tod...

Yes I'm sure. An EIA is mentioned in the doc but only to be made available post consultation, which given this will presumably all come in via the rules and given likely disproportionate implications on protected characteristics, is pretty bad. Even a HO-style EIA would be something.

If only there were an impact assessment!

Thanks

Feeling this guy this week.

High earners to be eligible for UK settlement within 3 years of arrival Home secretary says ‘brightest and best’ will be fast-tracked under new plans while others will have to wait up to 30 years

"It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Isn't it a blooming shame?"

😖

Earned Settlement plan when implemented will be done via secondary legislation (the rules). There will be no parliamentary scrutiny prior. Once done, it'll be v.hard to politically reverse. It's a watershed moment and will define immigration policy for at least a decade.

I was wondering about the public sector workers and specifically care workers. Do we know how that's defined? Would it apply to some care workers (e.g. employed by local authorities) and not others? (Private agency staff etc.)

I'm numb.

Biggest overhaul of legal migration model in 50 years announced Illegal migrants and arrivals reliant on benefits face waiting between 20 and 30 years to settle – the toughest in Europe.

With the child poverty strategy coming out soon, punishing children and families for being in poverty seems like a bad start: "Migrants reliant on benefits face a 20 year wait for settlement – quadruple the current period and the longest in Europe." www.gov.uk/government/n...

How do arrival infrastructures - from churches to cafés - shape newcomers’ first steps in a new place? 📍

@swessendorf.bsky.social will explore this question in tomorrow’s seminar, ‘Infrastructure of Kindness in the Context of Migrant Arrival.’

The UK isn’t a “soft touch” on asylum.

UK asylum seeker benefits are similar to European neighbours

No right to work before 12 months (it’s 6 months in France, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands)

UK settlement after 5 years (it’s 3 or 4 in Germany)

Let’s cut out the alarmist rhetoric.

Applying the changes to settlement to refugees already here would be particularly cruel and will create so much anxiety.
@stellacreasy.bsky.social is quite right when she says "the Home Secretary needs to come clean asap as there will be refugees with jobs and mortgages that could be affected.”

Report on review of cash allowance paid to asylum seekers Home Office reviews of the cash allowance paid to asylum seekers.

Amid all the asylum reform announcements, the HO finally slipped out its asylum support rates review last week. What does this mean for child poverty?🧵 www.gov.uk/government/p...