Many churches, charities and activity groups have refugees and people seeking asylum in their communities. These individuals often bring a wealth of skills and experience, and may wish to volunteer for your organisation. Naturally, you’ll want to say yes!
Recruiting refugees and asylum seekers to volunteer may present some challenges. This blog explores the best practice to follow, how to overcome any potential barriers and why doing so can be life-giving for your community and the people you want to include.
Refugee, Asylum Seeker or Migrant?
Before we look at recruitment, let’s define some terms that are sometimes used interchangeably. In 1951, the UN created The Refugee Convention to protect people forced to leave their country because of persecution.
In the UK, a refugee is a person who the government has recognised as needing this protection and has had their claim for asylum accepted. They are issued with documents that prove their refugee status and are allowed to live and work in the UK, either long term or indefinitely.
A person seeking asylum is someone who has claimed asylum in the UK but is still waiting for the government to decide whether to approve their claim and grant them refugee status, or not. They have a legal right to stay in the UK while they are waiting for a decision but are not generally allowed to work or claim benefits.
The term ‘migrant’ describes anyone who moves from one country to another. This could be for any reason, for example, to get a job, improve their opportunities or to join family members. How long they can stay and whether they are allowed to work will depend on their visa or other aspects of their status.
Recognising the difference between these statuses is not only helpful in terms of recruitment but can also help us understand a bit more about a person’s experiences, and what their day-to-day reality might involve.
Why refugees and people seeking asylum make great volunteers
Every individual brings unique gifts to the organisation they want to serve. There are also some benefits that people seeking asylum and refugees bring particularly. For example:
A fresh perspective: People from other nations and cultures may bring ways to do things that you haven’t considered before.
Strength and resilience: People seeking asylum and refugees have overcome several obstacles and challenges simply to be here, the strength and resilience built through these experiences can’t be overstated.
A desire to participate: The experience of waiting for an asylum claim to be decided can be (among other things) disempowering, frustrating and long. People are often hungry to participate and use their skills and time to serve others.
Skills and experience: People may have skills and experience they are unable to use in the UK due to the restrictions of their status and other factors. Your organisation and the individual can benefit from them being able to use these skills with you.
A connection point for others: The people you have on your team will signal to others with similar backgrounds that they can participate too. Language skills and cultural connections may also enable others to join.
It is not only your organisation that will benefit from enabling someone to volunteer. Having a meaningful way to contribute to the life of a community can be a lifeline for the individual too. Among other things it can bring:
- A sense of purpose
- A way to spend time
- Community and friendship
- Reassurance of belonging
- Self-esteem
- Mental health benefits
- Opportunity to develop language skills
- Increased job opportunities for the future
Henry, a Peer Volunteer for the Scottish Refugee Council’s Refugee Support Service, puts it like this: “We were all doing something with our lives before we had to leave. Then you come to the UK, and you’re not permitted to work or do anything [while your asylum claim is being processed] ... “Volunteering has been a means for me to use my skills to help other people. There’s a kind of pleasure in seeing that their pain is being eased, even when you’re going through your own pain. It makes you feel a bit better about yourself. It’s just been good to feel useful.” (1)
The Recruitment Process
Safer recruitment is the way that your organisation makes sure that the people who work and volunteer for you are safe and suitable to do so. A strong safer recruitment process will include all of these steps:
Expression of interest: Whether a formal application form or something much shorter, this enables people to say why they want to join your team and what they can bring to the role. If writing is a barrier, a person could answer verbally and someone else could take notes.
Role profile: Equip people with clear expectations so they can decide if a role is right for them. Clear expectations are especially important where there may be different cultural norms in terms of physical touch, interaction with children and gender roles, for example.
Interview: Whether this is a formal interview or coffee and a chat, it’s important to spend time talking about the role with the person who is interested. Official ‘interviews’ are part of the process of seeking asylum, so this concept might be a source of stress or anxiety for some. How will your process be safe and different? Also, will interpretation be required? Are there reasonable adjustments to make for anyone with disabilities?
Checks: A criminal record check may or may not be part of recruitment, it depends on the role. Criminal record checks can be difficult to obtain for people seeking asylum and refugees (see below for more detail). Other checks include references and a Right to Work check. Both refugees and people seeking asylum can volunteer, but some people seeking asylum may not be able to take on a role that replaces paid work.
Once appointed, all staff and volunteers should have someone who supports them in their role and ensures they are doing it safely and well. For refugees and people seeking asylum, ongoing support is essential. Their experiences, both past and present, can result in challenges to mental health and wellbeing. Regular check-ins can ensure that the work they are doing for you is having a positive, rather than a negative, effect on their overall wellbeing. It also provides an opportunity to ask questions, stay accountable and resolve any misunderstandings. They may also need additional training in terms of safeguarding and safe working practice as laws and cultural norms in the UK may be different from their country of origin.
Safer Recruitment Challenges
The main barrier to safely recruiting people seeking asylum and refugees is that they may not have some of the documents required to complete a criminal record check or join the appropriate PVG Scheme in Scotland(2). This means that a full safer recruitment process to volunteer in certain roles with vulnerable groups, such as children and adults at risk of harm, may not be possible.
Overcoming Barriers to Safer Recruitment
Find the right role:
One way to overcome this barrier is to identify roles that don’t require a criminal record check or membership of a PVG Scheme. There are several roles that fall within this category depending on the activities of your organisation, for example:
- Welcoming
- Making and serving refreshments
- Working with adults who aren’t considered ‘at risk’
- Many creative and practical roles
- Many administrative roles
Always check whether a role is eligible for a criminal record check before recruiting anyone to it. In Scotland, it is a criminal offence for an organisation to appoint someone to a Regulated Role without checking that they are a member of the appropriate PVG Scheme.
Seek advice:
If somebody doesn’t have the standard identification documents to apply for a criminal record check or join a PVG Scheme, there may be other channels that your lead recruiter can follow to complete the necessary check. Seek advice from specialist organisations such as Thirtyone:eight, Volunteer Scotland or nidirect. You could also go directly to the DBS or Disclosure Scotland or follow Home Office guidance for criminal record checks for overseas applicants.
Assess risk:
If any aspect of your standard safer recruitment process isn’t possible but you want (and are legally able) to recruit someone, it’s important to identify the risks and take steps to reduce them – for example, through supervision, choosing roles and activities carefully, and providing training.
Next steps
Get creative, build relationships and welcome people seeking asylum and refugees on to your team!
For more advice and practical tips, read our guide: Safer Recruitment of Refugees and People Seeking Asylum.
Conclusion
Recruiting refugees and people seeking asylum as volunteers may require some additional considerations, but we hope this blog has equipped you with some practical tips and encouraged you that the benefits for the individual and your organisation make it more than worth it. If you have any questions about your particular context, our helpline advisors are here for you!
(2) Disclosure Scotland advise that the list of documents on their website is not exclusive, but they do need evidence of name, date of birth and current address and this must be evidenced across a minimum of two documents.
Further Support and Signposting
You might also be interested in:
Safer Recruitment of Refugees and People Seeking Asylum Guide