Asylum Aid

Thousands of families with children arrive in the UK every year to seek protection. But they are pushed into extreme poverty by the Home Office.

Two months ago, the government froze the rates of financial support given to people seeking asylum.

This has a devastating impact on children. 🧵

‘Every human being deserves dignity’: asylum seeker in Essex hotel calls for understanding Man housed at hotel targeted in protests writes letter urging people not to resort to harmful stereotypes

"I did not come here seeking wealth or running from poverty. In fact, I had a stable life back in my country, Yemen.

"What forced me to leave was not economic hardship, but persecution and fear for my safety and the safety of my family."

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Many survivors stay silent due to trauma, stigma & fear of retaliation. We must build trust, create safe reporting channels & remove barriers so they can seek help without fear.

On World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, we call for systems that protect & support survivors.

#EndHumanTrafficking

❓Did you know that hundreds of thousands of people are forced to wait over 10 years for the right to permanently settle in the place they already call home?

And it’s about to get worse. 🧵

🚨 We welcome the government's decision to scrap 'scientific methods' of assessing age of children seeking asylum. X-raying children to decide their age is inaccurate, expensive & potentially harmful.

But we remain concerned about the Home Office’s use of visual assessments & plans to use AI. 🧵👇

🚨 Thousands of trafficking survivors continue to be denied permission to stay in the UK despite their critical need for safety and support — a new report by @helenbamber.bsky.social, ATLEU & @ecpatuk.bsky.social reveals.

Instead survivors are left in fear and at risk of further exploitation. 🧵1/3

🎧 Second episode of Lawmanity podcast featuring our Executive Director Alison Pickup just dropped! 📻

Listen in to this insightful conversation on securing justice for people seeking asylum and some career advice for aspiring human rights lawyers 👇

🚨 For the third year in a row, our data shows that HUNDREDS of child refugees, who come to the UK alone, are continuing to be incorrectly treated as adults after a visual assessment of age at the border.

They are placed with strangers in adult accommodation & even adult prisons. 1/2

📻 Our Executive Director Alison Pickup speaks on Lawmanity podcast about Asylum Aid's vital role in successfully challenging the Conservative government's Rwanda plan.

Want to know more about went behind this critical legal challenge?

Listen in! 🎧 pnc.st/s/lawmanity

On #WorldRefugeeDay today, we celebrate the friendships, solidarity & joy among our clients, who attend our community groups every fortnight. They bond over shared experiences & fun activities & often inspire us with some extraordinary talent. 🌿🥗🎼🎨🧶

#RefugeeWeek 🧡

Remove decisions on lone child asylum seekers from Home Office, report says Call for root-and-branch reform of treatment of children, many of whom are wrongly classified as adults

🚨 We found that, in the first half of 2024, over HALF of young people seeking asylum were initially assessed as adults by the Home Office but found to be children after being referred to local authorities – at least 262 children.

This cannot continue. 1/2

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

This #RefugeeWeek, #OurSuperpower is resilience ✊🧡

The hostile environment that people seeking asylum in the UK experience takes a huge toll on their mental health. But the resilience and strength of our clients, many of whom continue to face tremendous hardship, inspire us every day.

🚨 We need your support as our wonderful team goes on a 10 km walk w/ @londonlegal.bsky.social tomorrow to raise money for Asylum Aid! Please donate here so we can continue to help some of the most vulnerable people seeking protection in the UK 👇 🙏

londonlegalsupporttrust.enthuse.com/pf/asylum-ai...

Asylum sites to be expanded as ministers bid to end hotel use Chancellor Rachel Reeves pledged to stop using taxpayer-funded hotels to house asylum seekers by 2029.

Over the past 2 years, we've warned repeatedly that moving men seeking asylum in the UK to Wethersfield causes them profound & long-lasting harm.

Instead of closing the site urgently, the govt plans to extend its use — it's disgraceful.

We need #CommunitiesNotCamps

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

🚨 16p a day — that's how much the Home Office has increased the rate of asylum support for people in hotels. 😖 It hasn't raised self-catered support rate AT ALL.

This is after we provided detailed evidence of the abject poverty people seeking protection are forced to live in. It is disgraceful 🧵

Repeated failings at migrant hotel where asylum seeker killed himself exposed Special report: Staff at hotel were ‘not appropriately trained’ and Home Office officials didn’t know who was providing crucial services

This is a tragic story. Men, women & children who come to the UK to seek asylum are forced to live in squalid hotels, where they often encounter hostile & untrained staff — while private companies running these inhumane housing systems earn millions in profit.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

Fantastic achievement! Congratulations from all at Team LALY 🥰

🥳 We are thrilled to be shortlisted for the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year awards in TWO categories! 🙌

Asylum Aid is a finalist for the 'Legal Aid Firm/Not for Profit Agency' award and our wonderful solicitor Molly Nicolson is shortlisted in the 'Immigration & Asylum Law' category. 🎉

Open letter on the UK Immigration White Paper Open letter condemning the hostile rhetoric from the UK Government and expressing concern at the policy on immigration announced in the White Paper.

With @antislavery.org and 31 other organisations and survivor groups, we have written to the government calling for an end to the hostile narrative towards migrants and regressive policies that drive exploitation and deny survivors rights, safety and justice:

www.antislavery.org/reports/open...

📢 Our team will be walking 10 km🚶‍♀️ w/ @londonlegal.bsky.social to raise funds for Asylum Aid.

We need your support so we can continue to deliver high quality legal representation to vulnerable people seeking asylum in the UK.

Please donate here 👉 londonlegalsupporttrust.enthuse.com/pf/asylum-ai...

Overcrowded rooms, collapsed ceilings, rats, damp & black mold — these are just some of the horrific realities of living in the UK's asylum accommodation. 👇📽️

📖 Read our latest blog on how private companies are profiting from this dehumanising housing system:

www.helenbamber.org/resources/la...

Today would have been the 100th birthday of our founder Helen Bamber, who dedicated her life to upholding human rights and pioneering methods of care and rehabilitation for survivors of extreme human cruelty. 1/3

Really great to see this victory for family reunion rights for stateless people. Well done @asylumaid.bsky.social and all involved!

Asylum Aid wins High Court challenge to the statelessness family reunion rules - Free Movement Asylum Aid’s legal challenge to the lawfulness of the statelessness family reunion rules has been comprehensively upheld. The judgement was handed down by the

The previous government had changed Immigration Rules making family reunion for stateless people much harder.

We challenged that in the High Court and won — the court found the changes to be unlawful.

Here's what it means for stateless people & their families 👇
freemovement.org.uk/asylum-aid-w...

Ongoing challenge to SSHD’s policy regarding the… - Landmark Chambers Explore 'Ongoing challenge to SSHD’s policy regarding the identification of victims of trafficking' at Landmark Chambers for in-depth analysis and expert…

Many survivors are still recovering and/or don't have access to legal support. They can't gather the evidence needed in just 1 month.

We've brought a case on our client's behalf challenging this change.

📖 more in this @landmarkch.bsky.social article: www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/news-and-cas... 2/2

Last year the government changed its policy so that survivors of trafficking now only have just 30 days to challenge a negative decision from the National Referral Mechanism, even though that decision can leave them without crucial support and at threat of removal from the UK (1/2)

Thousands on axed Rwanda scheme list to have asylum claims processed in UK Home Office issues guidance hours before legal challenge on behalf of asylum seekers who were left in limbo

This is a huge relief for thousands who were left in limbo due to the previous government's disastrous Rwanda plan.

The failure of the Rwanda scheme stands as a clear example of why the UK must not farm its human rights obligations out to third countries, ever.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

An important thread on how labelling Albania as a 'safe country' puts survivors of trafficking at serious risk 👇

Children experiencing malnutrition and stunted growth in Home Office asylum hotels Nearly 1,500 complaints escalated by help service to Home Office accommodation providers last year, new data reveals

The experiences in this story are horrific but not uncommon. Our clinicians have repeatedly warned that the squalid conditions and substandard food in asylum hotels are causing profound harm to the men, women and children placed there.

This MUST change.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...