NACCOM adds name to JCWI open letter calling for Covid inquiry to include experiences of migrants

NACCOM has signed an open letter coordinated by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI), joining the call from individuals and organisations from across the sector and beyond, to include the experiences of all migrants in the public inquiry into the Government handling of COVID-19.

“Dear Lady Hallett,

Congratulations on your appointment to chair the public inquiry into COVID-19. We, the undersigned organisations and individuals, write to encourage the inquiry panel to include migration status and laws affecting migrants as a key factor in the inquiry’s investigation.

When the COVID pandemic hit the UK in March 2020, all our lives changed. But as our communities pulled together, it quickly became clear that not everyone had equal access to the lifelines they needed to weather the crisis.

The COVID pandemic exposed and exacerbated existing inequalities, with black and brown communities facing higher rates of infection and hospitalisation. Migrants within this cohort, particularly those with insecure immigration status, existed and still exist on the sharpest end of the COVID crisis.

There is already plentiful evidence showing the huge disparity in COVID outcomes between black and minority ethnic people and their white counterparts. People from a Bangladeshi background, for example, have twice the risk of death from COVID as white people, according to Public Health England.

This disparity must be investigated, and it is our belief that an assessment of the impact of current immigration policy and law must make up part of this investigation.

Throughout the pandemic, migrants and migrant families – often including children who were born in the UK and who have never lived anywhere else – have faced significant barriers to safety. Hostile (or ‘compliant’) Environment policies have put migrants in low paid and precarious employment and undocumented migrants and those unable to prove their status at particularly grave risk. In addition, they have hampered public health efforts and our ability to ‘return to normal’.

The No Recourse to Public Funds condition bars most migrants in the UK from accessing mainstream benefits. During the pandemic, this policy has left migrants forced to continue working even if it was not safe to do so, because losing income could mean becoming destitute and homeless, with no safety net to fall back on.

‘Right to Rent’ policies barring undocumented migrants from renting a home mean that people without status are much more likely to live in unsafe, cramped accommodation, and therefore be unable to safely isolate when needed. Similarly, ‘right to work’ checks that prevent undocumented migrants from working legally mean that many are instead forced into unsafe, exploitative work with no health and safety protections in place. Fear of their data might be shared by the NHS with the Home Office has had a huge deterrent effect, leaving undocumented migrants too afraid to get vaccinated, or even to get life-saving care when they needed it.

A whole host of other immigration policies have exacerbated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on migrants with all kinds of status. Strict income requirements for spouse visas, for instance, have meant people feeling compelled to continue working – even where it may not have been safe to do so – in order to keep their income above the required threshold and keep their families together.

We know that migrants in this country are disproportionately represented in industries that have been particularly hard hit during the pandemic, be this in the NHS and care work, or in hospitality, cleaning, food production and other front-line roles. The challenges of surviving the pandemic while navigating the Hostile Environment have had an impact far beyond the lives of those directly affected. Where migrants in these circumstances were forced to make impossible decisions between their health and their economic survival, our entire society’s recovery from the pandemic has been at stake.

As the inquiry begins to set out its Terms of Reference, we therefore urge you to ensure that migrants – including those who are undocumented – and policies restricting their right to access essential services are a key part of the investigation into the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.”