Practical Advice: Refugee Move-On Period Extended - what are the opportunities and challenges?

The Home Office's temporary extension of the refugee move-on period provides an opportunity to address the risks of homelessness for newly-granted refugees. But without systemic changes, challenges like housing shortages, financial barriers and support gaps persist. In this blog Training, Development & Advocacy Manager Bethan Lant discusses what this means for newly-granted refugees in the UK.

In December, the Home Office announced that the move-on period for those with a grant of refugee status would be increased from 28 days to 56 days for anyone granted leave from 9 December 2024.

Under the old system, those granted refugee status who were in receipt of asylum support had 28 days from the date on which they received their Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) before asylum support (including any provision of accommodation) ended.

However, at present, this is only a temporary change introduced while the new eVisa system is setting in. The Home Office states that the 56-day move-on period will be piloted until June this year (exact end date not yet specified).

Challenges in Housing and Homelessness Support

So the question is, how can we make the most of the 56-day period while we have it? While a huge improvement on the 28-day period, a longer notice period does nothing to resolve the underlying issue of a shortage of appropriate affordable housing across the UK and particularly a lack of social housing.

To minimise the risks of homelessness, ideally individuals should take action as soon as they are granted status. To enable this, work should begin even earlier in the process to prepare people. A number of local authorities and voluntary organisations have introduced schemes, particularly with those in asylum hotels, to increase awareness of the housing and homelessness system in those seeking asylum, to manage expectations of what will be on offer when they are granted status and to encourage them to be proactive in looking for accommodation. This kind of initiative is absolutely essential and should be replicated across the UK to empower individuals as much as possible.

Practical Steps for Newly-Granted Refugees

There are of course other practical issues to deal with when granted refugee status, many of which may have a bearing on ability to find accommodation. These include liaising with the Home Office over any eVisa issues, opening a bank account and applying for welfare benefits. It is also advisable for newly-granted refugees to notify the local authority (usually the authority in which they were accommodated at the point of decision) of their impending homelessness as even if they may not be deemed to be in priority need, the local authority will have a duty to assist an applicant to avoid homelessness (duties vary slightly across the four nations).

Finding employment is often deemed a priority, both by newly-granted refugees, and by those supporting them. Of course, having employment and an income can improve a person’s chances of both finding suitable accommodation and saving towards the costs of securing accommodation such as a deposit or rent in advance. However, it is important to be realistic and to acknowledge that for most newly-granted refugees, even if they find work immediately, this is unlikely to make a significant enough difference to their finances with the 56-day period to enable them to afford most private rented accommodation. There may, however, be other support available including a government Refugee Integration Loan of up to £500 for a single person, a Universal Credit Advance, or grant or rent deposit schemes including the St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity's Vicar’s Relief Fund.

Barriers to Accommodation Access

A further barrier to accessing accommodation is that for those under 35, they are likely to be eligible only for the local shared accommodation rate to help them with any rent costs. There have been calls for the government to accept that hotel asylum accommodation is equivalent to hostel accommodation and that therefore those leaving hotels should not be subject to the shared accommodation rates in the same way that those leaving hostel accommodation are exempted. Guidance on exemption from the shared accommodation rate states that to qualify as hostels the accommodation must have shared kitchen facilities or provided meals and provided support or resettlement services. In a number of cases, hotel accommodation provided when the ‘Everyone In’ scheme was running through the Covid pandemic, were accepted as the equivalent of hostel accommodation because of the support provided. While asylum hotels certainly meet the requirement regarding provision of meals, whether they can be said to provide support is less clear cut. It may be an argument that some welfare benefits lawyers are willing to test and you may want to discuss this with a local law centre or advice centre.

While there are a few specialist accommodation projects around for those newly-granted refugee status, availability is small and demand is huge. NACCOM - The No Accommodation Network - is an excellent place to find more information on these, or a source of advice for any organisation considering developing an accommodation project for refugees.

It is therefore clear that while the increased move-on period will relieve some of the pressure, we will continue to see high rates of homelessness among newly-granted refugees.

For more tips on managing transition from no status to status, see this webinar produced by Praxis in partnership with Homeless Link: Navigating immigration status transitions | Homeless Link