Introduction - Government Support & Work Rights for Asylum Seekers
Is the government doing enough for asylum seekers and does the expiry of right to work too challenging? The question raises about the feasibility of the right to work regulations. This case study analyses the challenges and the health consequences that the individual faces in the context of right to work privacy. The case study will also evaluate the reason why one might be subjected to the expiration of the right to work. The case study will begin with the provision of the outline about the stakeholders and the key issue in the case. This will be followed by the section which discusses about the arguments and counterarguments.
Description
The stakeholders for this case are Mercy Baguma, Mercy Baguma’s son and Robina Qureshi. Mercy Baguma, who is originally from Uganda was found dead after she lost her job due to the expiration of the rights to work (BBC, 2020). Mercy Baguma’s son was found malnourished after multiple days of staying starved and was later handed over to her father. Robina Qureshi is director of Positive Action in Housing who supported Mercy Baguma and raised question about the feasibility of the expiration of the rights to work (BBC, 2020). The main issue in the case is that the government is efficient in helping asylum seekers or not and the expiry of the right to work is feasible or not.
Discussion
The existing right to work rules and regulations are extremely strict and should include exemptions and special provisions by considering the individual’s financial and family status. It is because the enactment of expiry of the right to work for the personnel who are extremely poor would affect their nutritional intake quite differently than the ones who are well off since personnel who are well off can sustain their food purchases on savings till they renew their working visa whereas the poor do not have such luxury. This is similar to the case of Mercy Baguma as her son had been found malnourished since she lived in extremely poverty and could not afford to buy foods after she lost her job from the expiration of the right to work (BBC, 2020). In the findings of Olsen and Olsen (2016), it is supported that the implications of right to work rules needs to be revamped for the poor families and reduce their adverse impact. Therefore, it is observed that the lack of exemption in right to work expiration for poor families such as Mercy Baguma’s has been responsible for the malnutrition. Though, it is relatively easy to sympathisize with the cause of Mercy Baguma, Ms Baguma might have reflected on maintaining savings too rather than putting the blame on right to work rules.
On the contrary it is argued that the initiatives of keeping savings from job earnings are important for situations when the employees are unemployed and address the effect of right to work expiry. It is because this provides the individual with the opportunity to meet their basic needs when they have lost their job and purchase livelihood necessities. According to, Bwalya and Zulu (2021), it is observed that the financial savings share a positive association with the growth in the nutrition for family.
From the evaluation of the argument and counter argument, it is stated that the existing strictness of the right to work eligibility and lack of special provisions has been a valid reason behind the Ms Baguma’s child condition rather than the absence of savings. It is because the wages Mercy Baguma received was quite low and building savings through such meagre income is deemed as unfeasible. This is evidenced by the fact that the Mercy Baguma’s had thanked for providing her with food since she could not managed to build monetary savings from the paltry income and claimed to be in “extreme poverty” to Refugee charity Positive Action. Voola et al. (2018) have supported that the poor families do not have the scope of saving funds and often find themselves in situation where they are witnessing difficulty in two square meals a day.
One of the major reasons behind Mercy Baguma’s expiry of the right to work capacity could be attributed to the revoking of the employer’s sponsoring licence. Similar evidence can be observed in the works of Clibborn and Wright (2023) as the authors suggest that several individuals has lost their employment status for the absence of the employer’s sponsoring licence. It is because once the employer lose their sponsor licence they are not able to sponsor the employee’s visa and the employee’s right to work status is revoked as their status is reduced to immigrant and immigrants cannot hold right to work in UK. This is evidenced by the section of “360C of the Immigration Rules” which states that“asylum seekers cannot work as an employee or a worker, even for a voluntary organisation, unless they have been granted permission” (Gov, 2023). This might be in alignment with Mercy Baguma’s case as according to Robina Qureshi, Baguma was not intimidated before her dismissal from the job and was terminated suddenly. Though, it is relatively easy on blaming the employer for the right to work expiry of Baguma, there might be some other reason that has led to the issue.
On the contrary, it is argued that the expiration of employee work visa has emerged as the major reason behind the exemption of Mercy Baguma’s right to work as compared to the other factor. It is because Mercy Baguma’s has already claimed for “asylum” status with the Positive Action before the loss of her job, which can only happen if she had knowledge beforehand that her employee work visa is about to expire. This is evidenced by the fact that the “Paragraphs A320 and 320(7B) of the Immigration Rules” imply that an individual have to leave UK within 90 days from the expiration of the skilled worker visa (Morris, 2023). This conflicting statement shed a new light on the prospect or the cause that have been responsible for adjucating the expiration of Mercy Baguma’s right to work.
From the analysis of the arguments and counter arguments, it is evaluated that the counterargument of expiration of employee work visa is more feasible for explaining the plight of Mercy Baguma than the argument. It is because if the employer’s sponsoring licence was revoked, the employer would have the right for further 28 more days to keep her in the job till the renewal of his licence, however, the employer was forced to fire her on the very first day as the employee licence was in question not the sponsoring licence. In the findings of Stickney (2021), it is stated that only, a mere 35% of the individuals in UK have successfully renewed employee work visa and retained their job. Therefore, the expiration of employee work visa has adversely affected the chances of retaining Mercy Baguma’s right to work in UK.
One of the major claims is that the responsibility of the charity organisations of looking after the asylum seekers like Mercy Baguma and her son is quite high. It is because most of the asylum seekers are provided with the basic neccesities such as medicines, food, and clothes by these voluntary organisations. This is evidenced by the fact that Mercy Baguma was witnessed to thank the volunteers of Positive Action through her social media account in June for providing them with food. Furthermore, Mayblin and James (2019) have supported that more than 142 of RTO or voluntary organisations have provided foods and financial assistance to asylum seekers to sustain their life. Hence, it is observed that the charity organisations resulted in incurring a positive effect and contribute to the cause of helping asylum seekers. Though, it might seem apparently that the charity organisation is the solitary source of assisting asylums such as Mercy Baguma, however, there may be other forces at play.
In opposition to the above finding, it is argued that the government has been playing a more important role to the plight of the asylum seeker as compared to the charity organisations. It is because the government has been launching national level schemes that provides financial assistance to the asylum seeker and food distribution programmes for the asylum seeker. This is evidenced by the fact that the government has launched the financial assistance program, UK Resettlement Scheme that provides the asylum seekers with a standard weekly allowance of £40 (Vinnie and Callum, 2022). Furthermore, the UK government has brought in the program, “The London Food Poverty Campaign” where the asylum seekers are served with the free, nutritious meals for two times a day.
On analyzing the argument and the counter argument, it can be stated that the argument holds more validity than the counter argument in the context of Mercy Baguma. This is because the access to these programmes and schemes have proven to be extremely difficult for asylum seekers like Mercy Baguma as most of them fail to pass the registration protocol in the immigration process and stay months end long on the waiting list and fail to access such benefits from the government programmme. This is evidenced by the fact that more than half of the asylum seekers have complained about their inability to receive the benefits from the government (Taylor, 2023). Furthermore, there has not been a single instance where Mercy Baguma has received government support when she was reduced to ‘immigrant” status. Therefore, the contribution of the charity organisations of looking after the asylum seekers are quite high as compared to the government.
Another major claim is that the restrictions of the right to work should be relaxed and the right to work regulations should be made more lenient for preventing cases like Mercy Baguma’s death by providing more time. It is because the leniency in terms of an extended time of legal stay for Mercy Baguma after the expiry of right to work would have provided with a clear mind to take informed decision instead of choosing death. Hartley and Fleay (2014) have supported that there are several individuals who are suffering from anxiety of losing their right to work with their reduction of their status to asylum seekers. Though, it might appear that the tragic end of Mercy Baguma is driven by lack of the leniency in the right to work regulations, however, there might be other reasons behind it.
On the contrary, it is argued that the relaxation of the right to work regulations would not have made much of difference in the context of Mercy Baguma. It is because the death of Mercy Baguma is unexplained and there is no evidence which relates the effects of right to work expiry on her premature death. This is evidenced by the fact that the police is not able to deduce the reason behind her death (BBC, 2020). By comparing the argument and counter argument, it could be stated that the counter agreement is valid in this case and relaxation of the right to work regulations is not needed.
Conclusion / Recommendation
The findings of the case study indicate that the government has not done enough to support the asylum seekers. The results of the case study suggest that the right to work does not necessitate reformation in terms of the extended time of legal stay. The government should focus on making the programmes and schemes more accessible to the asylum seekers so that they can reap the benefits. Only then would asylum seeker like Mercy Baguma would be able to prevent their son from becoming the victim of malnutrition.
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References
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Clibborn, S. and Wright, C.F., 2023. Proposing mobility visas as an alternative to employer sponsorship: Addressing inequalities in the treatment of temporary migrant workers. The Economic and Labour Relations Review, pp.1-15.
Gov. 2023. Immigration Rules (no date) Immigration Rules - Immigration Rules part 11B - Guidance - GOV.UK. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-part-11b#:~:text=360C%20Where%20an%20individual%20makes,not%20been%20taken%20on%20the (Accessed: 18 January 2024).
Hartley, L. and Fleay, C., 2014. Policy as punishment: Asylum seekers in the community without the right to work.
Mayblin, L. and James, P., 2019. Asylum and refugee support in the UK: civil society filling the gaps?. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 45(3), pp.375-394.
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Olsen, W. and Mehta, S., 2016. The right to work and differentiation in Indian employment. Indian Journal of Labour Economics, 49(3), pp.389-406.
Stickney, C. 2021. Visa journeys and student outcomes, Visa journeys and student outcomes - Office for National Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/articles/visajourneysandstudentoutcomes/2021-11-29 (Accessed: 18 January 2024).
Taylor, D. 2023. UK asylum seekers who complain about conditions ‘threatened with Rwanda. The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/23/uk-asylum-seekers-who-complain-about-conditions-threatened-with-rwanda (Accessed: 18 January 2024).
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