Asylum Seekers Unit
YHN provided advice, support and accommodation for
people who applied to the Home Office for asylum from 1999 (as
Newcastle City Council) to May 2011. We no longer provide the
service other than on a Service Level Agreement with Newcastle City
Council for failed asylum seekers under section 17 and 27 which the
Council has a legal obligation to support. Our Advice and Support
Service manage this as part of the Refugee Move On Team
service.
You can read about the work of YHN’s Asylum Seeker’s
Unit up until May 2011 on these pages.
YHN Asylum Seekers Unit
We worked to a contract with the Home Office in addition to two
Service Level Agreements with Newcastle City Council. We
provided advice, support and accommodation for people who applied
to the Home Office for asylum. This included:
- people who were awaiting a decision on their asylum
claim;
- people who had been refused asylum, but were unable to
immediately return to their home country (Section 4 support);
- people who had been refused asylum and had serious health needs
(Newcastle City Council Adult Services support);
- people who had been refused asylum and had since become a
family with children (Newcastle City Council Children’s
Services).
We were assessed by the Government as providing Excellent
Customer Service. We achieved this by working in partnership
with a large number of other agencies in the public, private,
voluntary and community sectors.
Click here to read our mission
statement.
The three main parts of our work
- Ongoing support - we supported households
while they waited for a decision on their asylum application or had
other support withdrawn (as above).
- Managing properties - we were responsible for
managing a large number of properties during the lifetime of our
contract with the Home Office. We used both Council and
private sector properties.
- Raising awareness - we wanted to ensure that
people seeking asylum were free from discrimination and
prejudice whilst they stayed in Newcastle. We worked with
partners and local communities to help achieve this.
We also provided a responsive and flexible source of funding for
community and voluntary projects in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Funding was available to projects that were of direct
benefit to people seeking asylum or those with refugee status
living or working in the Newcastle upon Tyne area.
Find out more about the Asylum Seekers Unit (ASU):
