Migrant Children's Project Newsletter
February 2019
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If you used our guidance and resources in 2018, please take two
minutes to help us improve them by completing our short survey here. Parliamentary event: Affordable fees! Fair treatment! On 6th March join young campaigners Let Us Learn for an event in Parliament calling for an immediate freeze to immigration fees and for routes to settlement for young migrants to be made shorter, simpler and affordable. Fees have risen from £601 in 2014 to £2,033 in 2019 and are now crippling. They normally rise at the beginning of April, and so the time to campaign is now! You can sign up for the event here. If you can't attend for any reason - please write to your MP instead, asking them to attend and hear young people with experience of this policy discuss how and why the system needs to change.
Charter for local authorities supporting families
Project 17 published a report called Not Seen, Not Heard: Children’s Experiences of the Hostile Environment this month. The cases and evidence in this report demonstrate the profound impact on children of the prioritisation of immigration enforcement over children’s welfare. You can watch the story of Joel, a child whose family were refused support under section 17 of Children Act 1989 because of their immigration status, here, and read the full report here. Support the campaign by asking your local authority to sign up to the Children's Charter, or by contacting your MP, using the details here. You can also find out what local authority's legal duties under section 17 are by the MCP's fact sheet, here.
Legal aid review and action plan published This month, nearly six years on from the enactment of the Legal Aid, Sentencing, and Punishment of Offenders Act, the Ministry of Justice has finally published a review of the impact of cuts to legal aid. Published alongside the review is a Legal Action Plan outlining the government’s plan for the future of legal support in the UK. CCLC welcomes this review as an important step to ensuring migrant children's access to justice, and particularly welcomes that many of the recommendations raised in our 2018 report Rights without Remedies have been accepted. However, there is lots of work left to do to ensure that children can access legal aid when they need it, and the fight continues! Find out more about how and when migrant children can access legal aid under the current system by reading our fact sheet here.
EU settlement scheme: guidance for applicants With the full opening of the settlement scheme for EU nationals and their family members resident in the UK only one month away, we have written a 2-page guide on how to apply which you can read here.
Some people's situations (such as people who have derivative rights) have not yet been resolved, and we are waiting for new announcements on these cases. We will update our online guidance quickly to help you understand any changes as they happen.
As announced last month, in the event of a 'no deal' scenario (or in the event of an extension of article 50) the settlement scheme will continue to operate as plans, and will still open on 30 March 2019. Learn more here.
If you have queries about these or other issues, please contact our advice line at mcpadvice@coramclc.org.uk.
You can read our privacy policy here. If you have any questions or concerns about your data, you can contact us on mcp@coramclc.org.uk.
Our upcoming training courses Our courses can all be booked online - just visit our Eventbrite page! An introduction to the rights of children and young people in the immigration system
Coram Campus, London Thursday 27 June 2019, 2pm-5pm Access to education for migrant children
Coram Campus, London Thursday 16 May 2019, 2pm-5pm The rights and entitlements of young refugees and migrants Coram Campus, London Wednesday 17 April 2019, 10:30am-4pm For more information and to book, please see our eventbrite page. To commission in-house training for your organisation, please see our website. New reports and guidance Not Seen, Not Heard: Children’s experiences of the Hostile Environment
Project 17, February 2019
Section 17 Support: A guide for families
Hackney Migrant Centre, February 2019
Post Implementation Review of the Legal Aid, Sentencing, and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012
Ministry of Justice, February 2019
EU Settled Status Automated Data Checks: Proposed outcomes, concerns and questions
Open Rights Group and Immigration Law Practitioners' Association, February 2019
Latest news
Media pressure saved my clients from removal – but now come the crippling fees
Free Movement, 25 February 2019
Immigration check outcry sees officers removed by councils
The Observer, 24 February 2019
Cost of care for asylum-seeking children ‘doubles in four years’
The Guardian, 21 February 2019
Brexit: EU citizens’ children could lose right to stay in UK, senior MP warns
The Independent, 12 February 2019
Britain deports people who grew up here. This racialised system must end
The Guardian, 11 February 2019
EXCL Home Office 'risking another Windrush' as hundreds of carers face post-Brexit uncertainty
PoliticsHome, 6 February 2019 'I want my family with me': Syrian refugee calls for change to UK immigration rules
The Guardian, 4 February 2019
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