Cuts Watch #370: Refugee advice services

05 Feb 2011, by Richard Exell in Cuts Watch

The UK Border Agency will cut advice services for refugees and asylum seekers by more than 60 per cent from April. Charities such as the Refugee Council will lose substantial direct funding and the UKBA’s Refugee Integration and Employment Services (help with housing and employment, provided via the charities) will be scrapped. Donna Covey, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, said that “cuts this deep will not only devastate the organisations that provide asylum seekers with a lifeline, but will a have a serious and lasting impact on the wider voluntary and public sector.”