The Asylum Welcome Design Lab is an initiative commissioned by the Greater London Authority and created in partnership with British Future and refugee-led charity REAP. It aims to help local authorities develop new approaches to supporting people seeking asylum, responding to changing needs and creating opportunities for social connection.
A new toolkit for local authorities supporting refugees and people seeking asylum, created by the Design Lab, is published on the GLA website today.
The toolkit provides case study examples of how local authorities are taking a proactive response to asylum integration, while navigating a fast-changing national policy context. Chapters cover areas of work from outreach to strategy development, safeguarding and guidance on volunteer programmes. Template resources and guides are also included to support local authority teams in their day-to-day work.
The Design Lab brought together eleven local authorities from across London. Workshops explored new ways of developing strategies to improve services for people seeking asylum. The Lab offered a space to consider and share what was working well, discussing new ideas to address gaps and challenges. Each team then designed and piloted a new initiative in their borough.
Some of the issues addressed through the project include poor conditions in temporary hotel accommodation; social isolation, which some local authorities have responded to by encouraging social mixing through volunteering and sport; and reducing barriers to accessing services, for example through welcome packs and translated leaflets co-designed with people seeking asylum. Other local authorities shared how they had helped people in the asylum process to learn or improve their English, or supported them to develop their skills through volunteering at a time when many are waiting in limbo for an asylum decision.
Participants stressed the importance of involving service users in the development of new approaches, to ensure that provision matches their needs. The involvement in the Design Lab of REAP’s members helped to bring the expertise of those with lived experience of asylum into the deliberations. It was encouraging that many local authorities are already finding new ways of consulting asylum-seeking residents to best understand their priorities.
Many of the innovative approaches involve finding new ways of working, such as by forging new connections between local NHS experts and housing and community safety teams. External partnerships were also seen as essential, including with charities and voluntary organisations that are trusted by people seeking asylum and who bring knowledge and experience.
The project comes at a challenging time for organisations working to support people seeking asylum. There are large numbers of people stuck in the system, a heated media and political context, and poor communication between central government and those delivering services on the ground. The projects coming out of the Design Lab illustrate how, despite these difficulties, local authorities are still seeking innovative ways to offer people a warm welcome.
While examples were drawn from boroughs in London, relevant lessons can be applied for local authorities around the UK looking to expand the support that they offer to new arrivals. For anyone interested in learning more about the findings or discussing future local authority convening on asylum issues, please contact Jake Puddle at British Future (jake@britishfuture.org)
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