Scottish Asylum Right to Work Proposal

1. Introduction

1.1 Policy context

The Scottish Government has long been clear that the current UK immigration system does not align with the values of dignity, fairness and respect that we believe should underpin policies regarding migration, asylum and refugee integration. Scottish Ministers have repeatedly called for a new approach to migration that is needs-based, delivers positive outcomes, and which supports fair work, protects workers’ rights, pay, access to employment and prevents exploitation and abuse.

It has always been the Scottish Government’s position that those seeking asylum should be supported to begin rebuilding their lives from the day they arrive in Scotland, and that the right protections and services are there to support people seeking asylum to access employment, to support themselves and their families, and to maintain and develop their skills.

In March 2024 we published an updated version of our New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy Delivery Plan, just over ten years after the original publication in 2013. This Plan reaffirms our commitment to ensuring that Scotland is a fair and equal country, where people’s rights are respected and protected. One of the key principles of this Strategy is working collaboratively with stakeholders, to coordinate all of our efforts and ensure that we are achieving the best outcomes possible. The development of the Strategy – in addition to this pilot proposal – have benefitted from the invaluable insight and expertise of those working to support asylum and refugee integration.

In addition to seeking an approach to immigration policy which is humane and needs based, Scottish Ministers have also been clear that current policy does not acknowledge Scotland's distinct demographic or economic needs; statistics from the National Records of Scotland show that migration is the only factor sustaining Scotland’s current population growth. As well as sustaining our overall population levels, in-migration is also typically from those of working age, which helps address population ageing and supports the labour market.

Our Population Strategy, published in 2021, sets out our ambition to ensure that Scotland is as attractive and welcoming a country as possible, so that we can attract people who can make a positive contribution to our economy, communities and public services, as well as supporting people who need our help to make a new life in Scotland.

1.2 The Scottish Government’s vision

Outcome 3 of the New Scots Strategy is that New Scots ‘understand their rights, responsibilities and entitlements in Scotland and are able to exercise these to pursue full and independent lives. New Scots can pursue their ambitions through education, employment, culture and leisure activities in diverse communities’. This is supported by several actions to support people into employment including:

• Working with Scottish professional bodies to understand and promote recognition pathways for industries and identified sectors.
• Improving and enhancing awareness of, and access to, employability support for New Scots.
• Establishing channels of support for New Scots considering or actively pursuing entrepreneurship, through our enterprise agencies and entrepreneurial ecosystem.
• Developing proposals for a Scottish Right to Work pilot for people seeking asylum, to be submitted for consideration to the UK Government.

This proposal addresses the final bullet above.

1.3 Broader positioning and evidence on the right to work

In April 2024, the previous UK Parliament’s All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Migration and the APPG on Poverty published a joint report on the Effects of UK Immigration, Asylum and Refugee Policy on Poverty. The report stated that the UK’s asylum support is “destitution by design” and recommended that people seeking asylum should have the right to work after six months.

This is further evidenced by a survey recently undertaken by Heriot-Watt University and the Joseph Rountree Foundation, which found that 97% of respondents with No Recourse to Public Funds/Restricted Eligibility and who were accessing Fair Way support^[1] would be classed as destitute at the time of responding to the survey^[2].

A written question was tabled in the Commons by Labour MP Abtisam Mohamed on 21 October requesting whether the UK Government would take steps to allow those seeking asylum to work after six months. The Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Dame Angela Eagle MP, responded that the policy of restricting employment to an Immigration Salary List is “based on expert advice from the independent Migration Advisory Committee” (MAC), with no plans to change this. However, the MAC stated in their 2021 Annual Report that “the original reasoning behind this restriction does not seem to be particularly coherent”. The paper sets out a number of elements of the pilot design where the request is that the UK Government works with us to establish mutually acceptable parameters for the pilot.

1.4 Expert Advisory Group on Migration & Population report

In December 2023, the Scottish Government’s independent Expert Advisory Group on Migration and Population (EAG) published the report Asylum Seekers - extending the right to work: evaluation, analysis, and policy options. The report sets out analysis and policy options which would extend the right to work to people seeking asylum in Scotland, and reviews UK Government policy on this topic. Drawing on international case studies as well as existing evidence from academic and third sector studies in the UK, the report explores the consequences of exclusion from the labour market for people seeking asylums’ well-being and on integration outcomes in both the longer and more immediate term.

The report set out a range of recommendations for Scottish Government, such as:

• Consider how to exercise key devolved policy levers to support a proposed change e.g. in relation to employability, skills, education and training.
• Create a clear and simplified system with guidance for employers and prospective employees.
• Ensure increased employability is supported through tailored services, integration into mainstream support and by tackling structural barriers, inequalities and discrimination.
• Ensure that any proposal reflects the need to ensure individuals do not lose access to financial support/housing focusing on preventing in-work poverty and homelessness.
• Include the appropriate range of stakeholders in designing policy, learn from existing experience and ensure that responsibilities for implementation are properly resourced.
• Where an individual receives a positive decision in relation to their asylum application, right to work should provide pathways to settlement and mitigate the risks around temporary status, in order to aid their social integration.

In line with the MAC recommendation for the UK Government to review its policy on allowing people seeking asylum to work more easily^[3], Scottish Ministers committed to work closely with stakeholders to develop a pilot proposal to submit to the Home Office for consideration, underpinned by the findings of the EAG report. We ask that the Home Office engage constructively with us to trial these new, innovative policy approaches which may have broader applicability across the rest of the UK.

The EAG report also includes a chapter on economic impacts, provided by the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR). This modelling shows that allowing people seeking asylum the right to work in Scotland could add £30 million per year to the Scottish economy, or around £16 million per year if allowed after six months. This builds on a study conducted by NIESR in 2023, whereby the modelling indicated that allowing right to work would increase the GDP of the UK by £1.6 billion.^[4]

1.5 Stakeholder engagement

The Scottish Government has worked collaboratively throughout the development of this pilot proposal, convening a Working Group constituted of representatives from both local authorities and key third sector partners. Furthermore, a separate engagement session with employers and a lived experience session with asylum seekers were undertaken. This pilot proposal was developed iteratively over the course of four Working Group meetings over Summer 2024, with members afforded the opportunity to feed in both verbally and in writing.

The organisations who have participated in the stakeholder Working Group are as follows:

• Inverclyde Council
• Aberdeenshire Council
• Glasgow City Council
• Aberdeen City Council
• COSLA
• Scottish Refugee Council (SRC)
• Bridges Programme
• Govan Community Project
• NACCOM (No Accommodation Network)
• No Recourse North East Partnership
• Grampian Regional Equality Council (GREC)
• Refugee Sanctuary Scotland
• Asylum Support Appeals Project (ASAP)
• Institute of Social Policy, Housing and Equalities Research (I-SPHERE), Heriot-Watt University
• Glasgow Clyde College
• Skills Development Scotland
• Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework Partnership (SCQFP)

1.6 What will the pilot test?

This pilot proposal seeks to test the proposition that granting people seeking asylum the right to work from an earlier stage - and removing restrictions on the types of employment they can undertake – will have:

• a positive impact on them, their families and the communities they reside in, for example in relation to reduced destitution and material deprivation, improved health and wellbeing, and integration into the wider community;
• makes a positive contribution to the economy; and
• reduces the cost and demand on public services such as social security and health services

Another key objective would be to develop an understanding of any unintended consequences which arise and how these might be mitigated. Additionally, through the delivery of the wrap-around support provision for pilot participants, this will improve our evidence base on the extent to which this achieves positive outcomes for those seeking asylum. The exact shape of this wrap-around support provision would require agreement between delivery partners in advance of delivery, but we recognise that there would need to be a level of support provided in order to realise the broader economic benefits. Lessons learned from this pilot will therefore help inform our understanding of the scalability of this policy change at a UK-wide level and the level of resource required to ensure asylum seekers seeking to enter the labour market are suitably supported. It is anticipated that this in turn will deliver longer-term benefits for the economy and public services.

1.7 Ask of the UK Government

We are requesting that the UK Government reviews this proposal and agrees to engage with Scottish Government to consider its feasibility. This is expected to result in further refinement of the proposal before a final decision is taken by the Home Secretary to grant the Scottish Government permission to deliver a pilot. This may require legislative changes and a detailed memorandum of understanding would need to be agreed prior to commencement.