Community Interest Company Refugee Action – Colchester’s three-year funding bid has been put on hold because the funder is prioritising those suffering as a result of COVID-19. 'It was like a strike to the face,' said director and senior case worker Maria Wilby. 'We were half-way through the process when an email arrived saying the funder was prioritising work with vulnerable clients.'
'Our work has expanded and multiplied in different ways due to COVID-19. Refugee and asylum seeking families’ needs have not gone away, they have become greater,' said volunteer co-ordinator Elizabeth Curry.
Loraine Masiya Mponela, chairperson for Coventry Asylum and Refugee Action Group (CARAG), said refugee support groups often do not benefit from COVID-19 funding. She explained that while there had recently been an increase in COVID-19 resilience funds, most funders are looking for registered charities. 'Grassroots migrant organisations like ours are constituted as community groups which mean we are excluded from such funding,' she said.
However, Janet Fuller, project manager at Derby Refugee Forum, said her organisation had seen several offers of financial support since the start of the pandemic. 'Generally people locally appreciate the needs of asylum seekers and refugees in the current situation,' she said. 'We have had food donations from churches, Muslim groups, and different minority ethnic communities as well as local people and organisations.'
The lockdown has increased isolation for many refugee and asylum-seeking families, already far from extended family support, while for others overcrowded hostels make social isolation impossible. Some families do not have bank accounts at a time when shops are increasingly rejecting cash payments.
Children and families that have already suffered trauma are particularly vulnerable to stress, with research showing increased chances of developing anxiety, depression and other mental health issues. Refugee Action - Colchester is delivering activities to keep children busy, food and nappies as well as providing support accessing Free School Meals vouchers and Universal Credit.
Some families whose immigration cases are still pending may have been able to access free school meals through school bursaries, but are not eligible for Free School Meal vouchers. Even those who are eligible find accessing the vouchers difficult. 'They may not have English or computer skills, or a laptop,' said Ms Wilby. 'I have logged on to sort it out for families and it has taken an hour and a half – for someone who is doing that on their phone, it is using up all their data and costing them money.'
The immigration assessment process is also causing unnecessary distress during the pandemic, said Ms Curry. One family was told to go to an assessment centre in London, although the heavily pregnant mother was booked for a Caesarean delivery at her local hospital. The mother then had to be admitted to a London hospital, while her husband and four-year-old son were placed in a hostel.
'Social distancing was not being observed - everyone was just queuing up for food and nobody was wearing masks or gloves,' said Ms Curry.
Father and son were then told they needed to go to Leeds, leaving the mother behind, but due to Refugee Action – Colchester’s advocacy the family will remain in Essex, and the mother will be able to give birth as planned. However, she will need to isolate herself from her husband and children, after their hostel experience. 'If the Home Office had not moved them they could have stayed in their flat, observing social distancing and only having contact with the midwife,' said Ms Curry.