The Hostile Handmaid 🧡

MPs to vote on disability benefit cuts without knowing ‘full impact’ Britain’s economic watchdog may not publish forecast of employment prospects until the end of October

MPs are set to vote on disability benefit cuts without any idea how many of those affected will find work

The OBR may not publish its employment impact forecast of the plans until the end of October - after a Commons vote is likely to have taken place

By me: www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

DWP is using a sleight of hand in its disability benefit cuts impact assessment: Actual increase in poverty is closer to 400,000, not the 250,000 in the impact assessment.

Quick thread explaining why. 🧵1/7

Police watchdog serves notices on four officers over Harshita Brella case Move concerns alleged failings in handling of domestic abuse report made by 24-year-old later found dead in car

Police failings to safeguard migrant victims have fatal repercussions. IOPC's investigation into the handling of Harshita Brella's case raises serious questions about potential failings to act by police officers involved.

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

Needing help to wash your hair or your body below the waist would not meet the new threshold while needing help to wash your upper body would. Needing help going to the lavatory is above the threshold, but needing reminding to go would fall below it. Needing prompting to engage with other people face to face would not meet the new test; needing help to do so would.

Reading The Times report on speculated PIP cuts, I’m struck by not only how many people will lose vital support but how much we are already degraded to qualify. Have a stranger ask you how you wash “below the waist” and then tell us how easy it is to claim disability benefits.

ITV article text: The Government is planning to unveil more than £6bn of welfare savings that will see far tougher tests imposed for a key disability benefit, some payments frozen in 2026, and major changes to the way universal credit is calculated, ITV News can reveal. Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, has argued that the welfare system is broken and it is critical to get more people into work. But the changes are likely to be hugely controversial, including with Labour backbenchers. The radical package of reforms will see: - £5bn in savings by making it harder to qualify for Personal Independence Payments - a benefit not linked to work that is meant to help people with the additional costs of their disability - Further savings by freezing PIP payments next year, so they do not rise with inflation - Raising the basic rate for Universal Credit paid to those searching for work, or in work, while cutting the rate for those who are judged as unfit for work. - A billion pounds of savings ploughed into a major investment for employment support for those who are looking for a job

Even now I'm half wondering if this is some softening-up exercise for a more limited (but still dreadful) set of final proposals, but just to be clear - this would be an act of outright barbarity without precedent: not copying the Tories, worse than the Tories.
www.itv.com/news/2025-03...

No recourse to public funds traps families like mine in poverty Uche, a mother of four, describes how the 'no recourse to public funds' policy – which means she can't get any benefits – impacts her family.

No recourse to public funds traps families like mine in poverty. It's time the government ended it

YouTube video by Praxis, for Migrants and Refugees BREAKING: Migrant parents screen video message across Westminster

BREAKING: We screened a message from migrant parents across Westminster.

Hostile immigration rules enforced by this Govt. drive children into poverty.

🔊End child poverty, for EVERY child. Scrap No Recourse to Public Funds.

Make sure they know, we won’t let this go. Share now.
youtu.be/0d9YPGlFzC0

UK rollout of eVisas could leave non-EU migrants ‘vulnerable’ Home Office is issuing digital visas without completing necessary checks, Freedom of Information quest reveals

The government is pressing on with eVisas for non-EU migrants despite not completing an equality impact assessment

Campaigners warn the switch to eVisas could cause problems for older residents and those lack reliable internet access

By me, for the Observer:
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

About 1 million people in UK yet to obtain eVisa days before deadline Physical residence permits proving right to live and work in Britain will cease to be valid at end of December

‘About 1 million people in UK yet to obtain eVisa days before deadline’

… A Windrush Mark ll in the making. The Hostile environment continues its construction & destruction of lives.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

No child should grow up in poverty due to their identity or birthplace. Families with no recourse to public funds feel abandoned, children from minoritised backgrounds face higher poverty rates. Let’s support all families to thrive. #ChangingRealities
changingrealities.org/priorities

UK government admits huge problems with eVisa rollout in the final hour After many months of frustration, delay and confusion, the government has finally publicly admitted that the eVisa rollout is causing problems. Read this blog to learn more.

The possible consequences of not being able to prove your immigration status are incredibly severe, including loss of employment, housing or access to other essential services. We anticipate that emerging problems with eVisas might trigger enforcement action.

Read the full update here ⬇️

Residents could be barred from UK due to eVisa confusion, say rights groups Home Office has postponed transition to digital visas but campaigners fear ongoing technical problems could cause travel chaos

We already see Border Force Officials deny entry to people with valid proof of immigration status at times. The whole eVisa saga has been mismanaged from the start, and continues to be now. That's before you look at impact on things like right to rent/work etc.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024...

Residents could be barred from UK due to eVisa confusion, say rights groups Home Office has postponed transition to digital visas but campaigners fear ongoing technical problems could cause travel chaos Migrant rights groups have warned that British residents could still be barred from returning from abroad because of the switch…

Residents could be barred from UK due to eVisa confusion, say rights groups

Home Office says 'use expired documents' to travel during eVisa switch The Home Office is set to transfer to a digital immigration system and do away with physical documentation but amid issues with the eVisa system and fears of a Windrush-style scandal - they now say th...

“At the end of the month I have no way of evidencing my right to live and work here. I have no access to the eVisa platform because it's not working." - - Windrush scandal victim Euen Herbert

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...

Eight Tests for the government’s Child Poverty Strategy - End Child Poverty

Alongside 120 orgs, we’ve launched a set of eight tests that the government’s child poverty strategy must meet if it is to deliver on ending child poverty in this country.

It includes scrapping the cruel policy that is No Recourse to Public Funds.

Read more 👇
endchildpoverty.org.uk/8_tests/

Inevitable & necessary to avoid really damaging consequences, particularly for the most vulnerable. Now the Home Office must continue to issue BRPs & physical proof of immigration status for those at risk, to include migrant survivors of #domesticabuse, #disabled people, & those without photo ID.

Girl, two, who drowned in bin in London was failed by council, coroner finds Social workers declined to provide short-term foster care for Mazeedat Adeoye whose mother had overstayed visa

Reporting on people the state makes destitute via NRPF is one of the most distressing things I've done as a journalist, but this is truly disgusting - a child who died after being denied foster care by her local council because of her mother's immigration status. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024...

Revealed: ministers to postpone full shift to eVisas next month Exclusive: fears that UK residents could be stranded abroad due to system glitches prompts rethink

Pleased to see the Home Office extending the timeframe for the transition to #eVisas; wondering what communication airports/carriers have received re: accepting expired BRPs after 1 Jan? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Many unable to access eVisas to prove right to be in UK, Home Office admits Campaigners say problems with digital transfer could affect hundreds of thousands of people on ‘10-year route’ visas

Next year’s scandal, in which people get made unemployed or even destitute, or get expelled from the UK, bc of problems with the Home Office’s digital visas, has been so widely predicted, and the HO’s lack of concern so obvious, that you’ve got to assume those affected just don’t matter to it at all

UK's rollout of digital eVisas risks creating another Windrush scandal The changeover to digital eVisas has had severe consequences for those with leave to remain, with the most vulnerable worst affected.

The #eVisa system is deeply flawed. EU citizens have been suffering the impact of it since 2019. Its expansion will put at risk millions more migrants in the UK. www.bigissue.com/news/social-...

Migrants’ experiences of the UK immigration system - Migration Observatory The report compares the experiences and understanding of people who received their status under the EU Settlement Scheme and those with ‘non-EUSS’ statuses.

We surveyed 5,000 non-UK citizens about their experiences of the UK immigration system

Many migrants are unclear about their rights in the UK, while others had issues proving their rights to access housing, jobs & healthcare

5 things you need to know:

migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/re...

On 31st October, the Home Office stopped issuing biometric residence cards (BRPs) as part of the eVisa transition.

Until now, 4 million people relied on physical documents, including BRPs, to prove their immigration status and basic rights in the UK.

Here's what we've seen so far👇

Government told to loosen rules preventing migrants claiming benefits Thousands of migrants - including some who were encouraged to come to fill skills shortages - are living in poverty as they can’t access benefits

Almost 37,000 migrant households in London are living in poverty because they are affected by NRPF - and a further 120,000 are “at risk of destitution”.

Great to see coverage of our new research (out today) into the impacts of no recourse to public funds - www.standard.co.uk/news/politic...

New private rent stats out today for Oct 24 show an annual increase of 8.7% in GB and 10.5% in London, equating to £105 more per month on average in GB and £204 in London, compared to Oct 23.

These are big rises, and come on the back of the decision taken to keep LHA frozen at the Budget. 🧵 1/x

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People who have lived in UK for decades fear being ‘locked out’ by eVisas Physical documents proving residence rights to be replaced by online visas at end of year despite functionality concerns

“With just weeks until the Home Office’s self-imposed deadline, we are at a crisis point. The government has to recognise that the [e-Visa] scheme is flawed and take urgent action to prevent another Windrush scandal.”

🗣️ @sarahalsherif.bsky.social for ORG.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024...

can’t spell deli without DEI

I haven’t… should I?