BASW update on Ukraine
BASW will also take action by influencing governments, other policy makers and sector leaders to promote the rights of Ukrainian – and all – refugees, and in particular to point out the safeguarding, community inclusion, access to services and medium/long term planning needs of people arriving.
Members and the public can access information on the online BASW hub of information and updates for social workers on the war in Ukraine.
BASW statements may be read in conjunction with the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) statements. This gives information on the global and Europe region response to the crisis.
> Read more: IFSW share lessons from the frontline of the Ukraine refugee crisis
BASW coordination - Next member strategy meeting 28th April at 5.30pm
BASW lead members and staff are holding short strategy meetings weekly (currently) to agree actions in the sector and for the membership.
The next members meeting is on 28th April at 5.30pm. Please email policyadmin@basw.co.uk if you wish to attend.
UK response to Ukrainian refugees
Visas and arrivals as at 20th April 2022
The numbers of refugees compared to applications (and need) across Europe remain relatively low across both schemes (21600 arrivals out of 107200 applications).
> More detailed information is available on the Government website
BASW’s view is that the UK Government’s response to the refugee crisis overall has been slow and inept, especially when compared to the action of other nations. Our view is that the inadequacy of the scheme – despite the rhetoric of support for Ukraine – is another expression of the ongoing ‘hostile environment’ of the Home Office towards refugees and asylum seekers.
Letter to Michael Gove, Secretary of State
On 6 April BASW wrote a letter to Michael Gove, Secretary of State, who is currently charged with responsibility for Ukrainian refugees, expressing our concerns with the delays, safeguarding, and the support available in the UK for Ukrainian refugees. We have not yet received a response.
> Read the letter sent to Michael Gove
The UK already takes a very small percentage of global refugees and is trying to pass legislation to make it more difficult for people to seek asylum here, including declaring many routes to seeking asylum ‘illegal’ which is in contravention of international law.
Two specific schemes to help Ukrainian refugees are currently available. Both require visas:
- The Ukrainian Family Scheme: allows family members of British nationals, UK settled persons and certain others to come to or stay in the UK
- Homes for Ukraine: a scheme whereby UK citizens can enlist to accommodate (host) Ukrainians. It is understood some 200K people have signed up to this. However, there is no government coordination of matching. Prospective hosts have been doing this via social media or personal contacts. The governments of Wales and Scotland have also taken on sponsoring roles.
There are considerable safeguarding concerns for adults and children, particularly under the Homes for Ukraine scheme which has no coordinated matching scheme to enable strangers to contact each other, relying instead on social media and other informal communication routes. This is increasingly reported in the press as set out in a recent article in the Guardian.
Safeguarding checks on homes are a local authority responsibility. The effective coordination and implementation of checks across the UK remains unclear, but local authorities are starting to appoint coordinators (or similar) and guidance is being created/published by governments and employers’ organisations.
Government advice on Ukraine refugee schemes
Westminster government guidance for local authorities in England was published on March 18th.
> Read more: Homes for Ukraine: guidance for councils
Other nations published advice in April:
> Scottish Government guidance is here
> Welsh/Cymru Government guidance for everyone is here
> See also guidance for local authorities in Wales
> Northern Ireland government guidance for everyone is here
Both Scotland and Wales have decided upon additional assistance measures and their Governments can be listed as sponsors under the sponsorship scheme.
> Wales A “Team Wales” welcome for Ukraine people | GOV.WALES
> The Local Government Association in England has dedicated pages for Ukrainian Refugee issues
BASW donations to Ukraine and refugee effort
The BASW members panel that governs the International Development Fund has decided to donate £10k to the International Federation of Social Workers Europe (IFSW) fund for social work support in Ukraine and in countries bordering Ukraine and has put aside up to another £40k to support further initiatives related to the Refugee crisis. Further work is underway to determine how this may be spent including through IFSW.
Actions members can take
BASW suggests the following actions that many members could take at a local level:
- Find out who is coordinating support and safeguarding visits for Ukraine refugees in your local authority area and find out what advice is available for refugees and hosts
- If none is available or it is inadequate, raise this with the relevant managers/leaders
- If refugees are coming to your area, find out how safeguarding checks for adults and children are being done and alert local refugee and safeguarding leads to the risks of the ‘social media’ ‘matching’ scheme
- Check whether there are arrangements being put in place to support hosts and if not, suggest this to local coordinators
- See if there is planning in place to protect people in cases of hosting arrangements break down
- Reach out to Ukrainian community support organisations and see if you can provide information or signpost them to further help and resources, whether statutory or voluntary
- Write to your MP and/or local Councillors about local and/or national concerns. Let BASW know what response you get.
We will continue to develop the advice and suggestions for members and also get and share feedback from members about the actions they are taking.
#IStandwithUkraine #StopWar