Displaced young people describe experiences with UK immigration system, housing, education and healthcare
An interesting report from a source you might not expect was published this week on the experiences of displaced young people living in England.
The report was published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and can be read online here.
It was produced in response to a report by the UK Statistics Authority's Inclusive Data Taskforce (IDTF) in 2021, which found that migrant children were a priority group that are "missing" from statistics or "largely invisible" in existing data. The IDTF encouraged innovative and flexible approaches to data collection to enhance the understanding of the experiences of under-represented groups.
The ONS' new report draws on the experiences of 57 displaced young people aged 14 to 19 years old who came to England through various immigration routes. They include young people coming through Ukraine humanitarian schemes, refugee resettlement schemes, the Hong Kong BN(O) route, and also young people who came to the UK to seek asylum.
The report seeks to give voice to the displaced young people's experiences in the UK on a range of issues such as settling and adjusting, accommodation and education.
Overall, the report finds there was a strong narrative of gratitude running through the young people's accounts of their experiences in the UK, with many discussing how thankful they were, but there were numerous challenges settling in to their new life in England.
In particular, the participants in the report told the ONS that they has experienced long waiting periods for immigration-related decisions to be made about their futures in the UK, which caused them stress and anxiety.
The report states: "Displaced young people and their families described the challenges they faced since arriving in the UK, as well as beforehand, with navigating complex processes and services alongside language difficulties, the emotional and mental health impacts of displacement, missing their families and lack of clarity about their futures. Participants noted the frustration of 'waiting' for immigration processes to progress and the knock-on effect this had for receiving support and engaging with other services. This was said to make participants feel stuck and added to their sense of uncertainty, which affected all areas of their lives and well-being."
Those who arrived through the Ukraine schemes noted, for example, that there could be large differences among individuals over the amount of time taken to complete visa processes. One young person described how a friend had received a visa in a couple of weeks, while his took five months.
The report continues: "Participants who were supported by the Home Office while moving through the asylum process described waiting a long and uncertain amount of time for decisions to be made regarding refugee status, as well as a perceived lack of communication and clarity about their situations. The insecurity of their status and uncertainty about what the future held was described by people in these circumstances as making it very difficult to feel settled. This was said to cause stress, fear and worry for young people and their families."
Support received in navigating immigration processes differed depending on the route of entry to the UK. The ONS notes that young asylum seekers received less support than those arriving through official routes. Although the participants described the processes as slow and uncertain, they also expressed gratitude for the efforts to provide families with safety in the UK.
Anxiety caused by experiences in the UK was added on top of anxiety over home countries: "Participants discussed mental health challenges often in the context of the adversities faced in their home countries, as well as difficulties with current living situations and adapting to life in the UK. Participants described the worry and anxiety arising from ongoing conflict in their home countries and family members left behind."
Participants told the ONS that their interactions with people in the UK were broadly positive, though they also discussed a need for people in the UK to have greater empathy for displaced people and demonstrate increased compassion for them.
Individual sections of the report consider displaced young people's experiences of housing, education and healthcare.
On housing, the report notes that participants discussed having limited housing options, which could be experienced as a lack of choice or control over where they lived. One parent/carer said: "Finding a dwelling was very hard…I got probably 30 rejections. They refused me in all the apartments I looked at…In other words, there is not much choice of housing either. More precisely, I didn't have a choice."
Health and safety concerns were also an issue with housing. A young female refugee told the ONS: "It was, like, soon as we got into that house, we all, like, literally cried. It was really, really bad, really, really bad. … No electricity, no proper things, no phones, no nothing. … The fridge is broken, sometimes the oven is broken, the gas [was] not working properly."
Young people discussed significant barriers they experienced in education and at school which were attributed to lower English language proficiency. Language was found to be almost always cited as one of the most challenging aspects of adjusting to life in the UK.
The report describes problems for young people trying to understand teachers in lessons and how taking exams and tests caused further stress and anxiety. A parent/carer told the ONS: "They give children tests that need to be finished during a lesson, for example. The time given to a Ukrainian, the same exact time is given to a Brit. The Ukrainian needs additional time to translate this task. He spends half the lesson thinking about the translation before solving or making it."
Such educational issues can impact future life choices. The report states: "Displacement was said to cause significant disruption to young people's lives and studies. Having to learn a new language alongside mainstream subjects could limit aspirations to enter higher education and significantly delay progress towards achieving future goals. Some young people described the frustration of seeing peers in their home country moving forward with their lives, while they felt they were falling behind."
On healthcare, the ONS finds that participants overall expressed gratitude for the healthcare they received in the UK, appreciating perceived egalitarian nature of the NHS, though there were mixed experiences and perceptions around accessibility and quality.
A new environment could also cause health issues: "For some, staying healthy was more difficult in the UK. New health issues were experienced since participants' arrival, which included catching viruses they had not previously been exposed to, such as chicken pox, suffering illnesses or allergies attributed to the change in climate, or iron deficiency from a change in diet. Accommodation conditions were said to affect participants' health, including the presence of damp and mould or lacking cooking facilities, making it difficult to eat healthily."
While some young people told the ONS they wished to return to their home countries, others, particularly those who had lived in the UK for longer, said they saw their futures in England and began to see it as their home.