Refugees and asylum seekers in the UK
In March this year, over 100,000 people were seeking asylum in the UK. 30% of these people were living in hotels, and all were banned from working and received £7 a day to cover basic needs. The UK has seen over 3,000 applications from unaccompanied children over the past year. Since 2023, 74% have been granted asylum and 83 have been granted short-term leave to remain for two and a half years.
This month, 13 small boats have arrived in the UK with 725 people onboard seeking sanctuary (UK Government, July 2025). In October last year alone, 52 people died preventable deaths (with many more to follow) crossing the English channel (BBC News, October 2024), which, according to the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, has “become more deadly over time”.
The number of immigrants coming to the UK accounts for only 9% of the numbers across Europe, with the UK fifth in terms of proportion of the population (behind Germany, Spain, Italy and France) and 17th in terms of per head of the population (UK Government, June 2025). Meanwhile 74% of the world’s refugees live in developing countries adjacent to their own (Refugee Council, 2025) and many people continue to live in their own countries, where their lives and the lives of the people they love are in danger.
Anti-migrant sentiment and discrimination
However, since 2010 the UK government has set out to create a “hostile immigration environment” led by Theresa May, which in practice has meant closing highly skilled worker routes, capping Tier two visas, tightening eligibility criteria, making family reunification harder, increasing language requirements, income thresholds, reducing working rights and increasing settlement requirements (Consterdine, 2018).
Perhaps more importantly, it has created a culture capitalised upon by UKIP and more recently the Reform party, around anti-migrant sentiment and discrimination. This is seemingly not unsubscribed to by the current Labour government under Kier Starmer too, with its Britain becoming ‘’an island of strangers’’ narrative (UK Government, May 2025).
Civil society stepping up
The failure of policymakers to provide adequate support for refugees and asylum seekers means civil society, charities and third sector organisations are increasingly stepping up to provide, sometimes lifesaving, welfare and advocacy support for refugees and asylum seekers. This includes housing assistance, food, clothing, help with transportation, legal support, language classes, education, training and skills development, advocacy, policy influence and mental health support.
Civil society providing this support is not working within a political vacuum, and the size, shape and activities are buffeted and directed by the policy environment. With this in mind, we ask whether devolution in Scotland and Wales is impacting this important work.
A different political narrative
While immigration is fully reserved to the UK government, many social policy areas impacting sanctuary seekers are devolved, most notably transport, housing and health. Despite constitutional and policy limitations, such as NRPF (no recourse to public funds) that place barriers in access to housing and homelessness services provided by local authorities, universal credit and child benefit, the Scottish and Welsh governments are promoting a non-hostile political narrative.
The Labour-led Welsh government has supported a Nation of Sanctuary, whereby “wherever people seeking sanctuary go, they are met with welcome, understanding and celebration of their unique contribution to the rich tapestry of Welsh life” (Nation of Sanctuary, 2025). And in Scotland, where health, housing and transport are also devolved, the SNP government’s New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy “sets out a vision of a welcoming Scotland where people are able to rebuild their lives from the day they arrive.” (Scottish Government, 2018).
Our new project
In this context it is crucial to understand the contemporary role of civil society organisations in rights advocacy and welfare provision for refugees and asylum seekers. Also, to consider to what extent can devolved policy make a difference to the lives of refugees and asylum seekers living in Scotland and Wales and the organisations who support them? This is the question we are currently addressing through our UKRI ESRC-funded WISERD project ‘Devolved governance, civil society and welfare for refugees and asylum seekers’.
We wish to provide a counter-narrative to the anti-immigration sentiment across the UK which targets the most vulnerable members of society through discrimination and hate speech; often backed by policy and political voices, and to highlight the valuable work of civil society organisations that support and advocate for refugees and asylum seekers in the different policy contexts of Scotland, Wales and England, and the challenges they are facing.
The project will be running from January 2025 to September 2026, carrying out in-depth interviews with civil society organisations in Scotland, Wales and England.
Sioned Pearce is a Lecturer in Social Policy at Cardiff University researching devolution, welfare, work and civil society.
Nivedita Narayan is a Research Associate at WISERD, Cardiff University researching refugee and asylum seeker support, civil society and devolution.
Image credit: shironosov via iStock.