The Effects of UK Immigration, Asylum and Refugee Policy on Poverty: A Joint Inquiry by the APPG on Migration and the APPG and the APPG on Poverty – Official Launch and Call for Written Evidence

Posted on 25 Sep 2023 under News, Latest News

Today we are officially launching a joint inquiry into The Effects of UK Immigration, Asylum and Refugee Policy on Poverty with the APPG on Migration. We have decided to embark on this inquiry jointly as traditionally anti-poverty groups and those working on immigration and asylum issues have tended to work relatively separately, despite the clear overlap of issues.

The inquiry aims to hear from experts and those with lived experience about how different immigration policies currently contribute to poverty amongst some communities in the UK and, together, to develop a set of shared recommendations for this Government – and any future Governments. We hope that these will set out how, in the current context, UK immigration policies can balance the need to raise revenue with the need to enable those who migrate to the UK to be able to support themselves and to fully participate in, and contribute to, their wider community.

Call for Written Evidence 

The call for written evidence consists of two questionnaires which seek to explore the ways in which UK immigration policies contribute to poverty amongst migrant communities.

Completing a questionnaire will take around 15 minutes. The call for evidence will be open for one month, closing on the 25th of October. If you know others who may be willing and able to respond, please feel free to share this with them as we are keen to get as many responses as possible.

Lived experience questionnaire – We ask those with current lived experience of the UK immigration system to complete this questionnaire. Your answers to this questionnaire will be anonymous and completing this questionnaire will in no way impact your current immigration status.

Professional experience questionnaire – We ask those who have professional experience of the UK immigration system or UK poverty to complete this questionnaire. This includes, but is not limited to, professions such as academia, non-for profit, government etc in the asylum, migrant, refugee and poverty sectors.

If you have both professional and lived experience, we encourage you to complete both questionnaires, separating your lived experience from your professional experience.

Going Forward

Your participation will help give a direct insight into the experience of those who suffer poverty due to being subjected to the UK’s immigration policies. The answers you will provide in this questionnaire will be utilised in the following two ways;

• Firstly, the answers you give will help inform the inquiry team’s questions at the oral evidence sessions, helping them to ask targeted and specific questions on themes, topics and policies which are raised in your answers to this questionnaire.
• Secondly, the evidence gathered through this questionnaire will help inform the final policy recommendations this inquiry will publish, with the purpose of proposing changes to UK immigration policies with the purpose of alleviating poverty amongst migrant communities.

We thank you for your participation and please feel free to get in touch at info@appgpoverty.org.uk if you have any questions about the inquiry.