Charities and voluntary organisations are raising serious concerns about government proposals to link volunteering to asylum settlement.
The proposals form part of the government’s wider asylum and immigration reforms, which would allow volunteering to be used as a condition to obtain, or shorten the route to, settlement in the UK.
Drawing on engagement with 314 organisations, our findings show overwhelming concern across the voluntary sector. Respondents were in strong opposition to the proposed inclusion of volunteering to obtain or shorten the route to settlement for asylum seekers and refugees.
Of the 129 organisations who completed our survey:
While the government’s stated aim is to encourage integration, our members believe the proposals would have a number of serious risks including placing increased and unmanageable responsibility on charities, risking coercing vulnerable people into volunteering, and failure to address the real structural barriers to integration.
The key issues raised by charities and voluntary organisations about the proposals are:
Organisations who contributed to our consultation highlighted increased administrative burdens linked to reporting volunteering hours to the Home Office, verifying eligibility, managing DBS checks for people without UK documentation and providing additional language, safeguarding and trauma-informed support.
Many charities described operating with minimal capacity, with some characterising themselves as 'one-person bands'.
If the proposals proceed, organisations told us they would be forced either to divert resources away from frontline services or to withdraw offering volunteering opportunities altogether.
The most common barrier to volunteering for asylum seekers is geographic instability. Members repeatedly described individuals being moved with little or no notice, directly undermining the requirement for sustained volunteering over time.
The proposals fail to address existing barriers to participation, including language needs, legal uncertainty, financial constraints, transport costs, trauma and experiences of discrimination.
This sits alongside wider evidence of rising hostility, fear and intimidation facing charities and volunteers, set out in our report Challenges Facing Charities in Divided Times.
The report highlighted the growing risks charities face in protecting staff and volunteers, raising serious concerns about placing people who are already vulnerable into volunteering environments without adequate safeguards.
Although participation would technically be optional, members warned the reduction in the time it took to receive ‘settled status’ in return for volunteering effectively made it compulsory.
Members stated this would lead to ‘tick-box’ volunteering driven by necessity rather than choice, undermining motivation, retention and the relationships that make volunteering effective.
There were also concerns raised about safeguarding and exploitation. Vulnerable people may feel unable to refuse unsuitable placements and several organisations raised explicit concerns about risks of abuse and modern slavery from businesses posing as charitable causes.
We have reflected this evidence in our response to the Home Office consultation.
We believe the earned settlement proposals should be withdrawn, and the government should focus on removing barriers to integration instead. Rather than placing additional pressure on charities and volunteers, we are keen to work with the government constructively on alternative, properly funded ways to genuinely support integration and remove existing barriers to volunteering.
