The government is consulting on measures to overhaul Home Office and local authority support for people seeking asylum and care leavers, and to use physical force against children in immigration enforcement. We think the proposed changes will cause great harm to people and places in our local areas in the North West and will have a significant impact on our local authorities. Our…
The Greater Manchester Asylum Hotels Group has today released their vision of how people should be housed while waiting for an asylum decision. The group is made up of people with experience of living in asylum hotels and other forms of asylum accommodation who have come together to speak out…
Together with Migrant Destitution Fund (MDF), we have produced an information sheet about local authority support for destitute families in GM. We don’t believe that anyone should be forced into destitution because of their immigration status – especially children. This information sheet is therefore aimed at families themselves, and services…
The full consultation is available here: Family Returns: Reforming Asylum Support and Enforcing Family Returns. It closes on the 4th June 2026. (Please note the deadline has been extended from the 28th May). The key changes being proposed are: GMIAU’s view: We must resist these changes in their entirety. They represent an unprecedented attack on…
2nd April 2026 People in the asylum and immigration system, and the organisations supporting them, have been faced with a barrage of policy and legal changes in recent weeks. It can be hard to keep track of what’s happened, to advise the people we’re working with, and to know where to direct our limited resources. This information sheet…
Last week, alongside many other brilliant organisations, campaign groups, and community leaders, we travelled from Manchester to London to take part in the Mass Lobby against the government’s proposed ‘earned settlement’ plans. A coach of 50 people travelled from Greater Manchester, joining over 500 individuals from around the country – all…
This morning, February 25th, we were horrified to hear the news that last night (24th February) Manchester Central Mosque was targeted by an attempted attack. Two men had entered the mosque carrying weapons including an axe and a knife during Ramadan prayers. Thankfully, they were stopped and no one was hurt.…
What is a SEF? The SEF stands for the statement of evidence form. It is part of the process of a child’s asylum claim. The statement of evidence has a list of standard questions including on the child’s circumstances, journey to the UK, nationality and reasons for claiming asylum. The SEF is completed with an immigration adviser…
January 2026 The government is currently consulting on their plans for “earned settlement”, a major overhaul of the rules governing when people can apply for indefinite leave to remain (a term used interchangeably with “settlement”). This briefing is to support local authorities to respond to the consultation, highlighting the likely…
January 2026 Introduction The government are consulting on their planned changes to settlement in the UK, known as “earned settlement”. These are changes that will make it much harder for people to receive indefinite leave to remain in the UK, and we are very worried about the impact on people…