UK Politics

Siri Premfors
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Asylum seekers in Glasgow 'could be cleared to work in six months'

Asylum seekers who are placed in Glasgow could be allowed to work six months after their claim
to stay in the UK has been submitted.
The move is one of a series of changes which Glasgow City Council hopes to introduce in a UK
pilot scheme. It would mean people could hold down a job until a final determination on their
application is made. The Home Office has not agreed to the plan but said it was "carefully
considering the recommendations". Glasgow currently has the highest number of asylum seekers
in any UK local authority area.
Currently, asylum seekers are not allowed to work in the UK unless their claim has been
outstanding for at least 12 months through no fault of their own. The council insists its proposals
would not lead to more people coming to Glasgow "as dispersal would still be managed by the
Home Office".
Living on £5 a day
BBC Scotland's The Nine spoke to one man in
Glasgow who is awaiting a decision on his
application for asylum. A former business
consultant, he fled Saudi Arabia in 2017 fearing
that his daughters may have been forced into
arranged marriages. While he is unable to work
until a decision is made on his application, he
lives on £5 a day in benefits. The BBC has
chosen to protect his identity.
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He said: "I felt safe the first night I came here, because nobody can touch my daughters, nobody
can harm them," later adding: "The system at the moment, they need to look at it again and consider
the situation by giving the chance to people who are qualified the chance to work so they don't
have to pay for them."

The Glasgow move follows the creation of a taskforce which also included the Scottish
government, the Scottish Refugee Council, Cosla and the Home Office. The group has proposed a
series of measures aimed at improving the relationship between local and national government and
private contractors.
Reforms which Glasgow is pushing for include:
 Allowing asylum seekers in Glasgow to work from six months after their asylum claim has
been submitted until final determination of their application
 The creation of a multi-agency group to commission, monitor and report on ongoing work
on asylum in the city
 Asylum seekers being able to register in regional centres like Glasgow instead of having
to travel to the national screening unit in Croydon
 An end to people being required to travel to England to make further submissions.
Taskforce chairwoman and Glasgow City Council chief executive Annemarie O'Donnell said:
"When people come to our city looking for help, Glaswegians want to ensure we do everything we
can to assist them. I am confident that the recommendations in this report, and the work that we
will now do together, will allow us to do much more to support some of the most vulnerable people
seeking asylum in the UK and in our city."
[Here I removed a chunk of the article because it was too long. It was not vital information to understand
the conclusion but did provide some more in-depth information.]

When asked, a Home Office spokesman said: "We take the wellbeing of asylum seekers and the
local communities in which they live extremely seriously.
"We have and will continue to work closely with Glasgow City Council and partners to ensure that
those who are no longer entitled to asylum accommodation receive the appropriate advice and
support.
"The government is listening carefully to the complex arguments around permitting asylum
seekers to work. In December the Home Secretary committed to reviewing the current policy and
this work is ongoing."

Article by: BBC News, 05 March 2019

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Summary
This article covers a suggestion put forward by the local government in Glasgow, the largest city

of Scotland and the third largest of the UK, to allow refugees who are seeking asylum to work and

earn a living wage rather than live of benefits, which is money received from the state. This is

reported as being generally approved of by the citizens of Glasgow, and the Home Office, the part

of the UK’s government which deals with national politics, is carefully considering whether or not

to agree to it. The author of the article highlights that a council has been created in cooperation

with Scottish national government and the UK government to help fight for the rights of the people

who are seeking asylum, for example in Glasgow. When a government official on the UK level is

asked, it seems that they are examining the suggested reforms closely, and that there is a good

possibility of these changes being put into place.

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Word Lists

Specific Vocabulary

Asylum seekers - Asylsökande

Application - Ansökan

Outstanding - Olöst

Dispersal - Fördelning

Taskforce - Arbetsgrupp

Commission - Beställa

Monitor - Övervaka

Vulnerable - Sårbara

Accommodation - Boende, Bostad

Active Vocabulary

Allow - Tillåta

It cannot be allowed for students to be on Facebook during class.

Consider - Överväga

I am considering if I should end this lesson early, but I haven’t made my mind up.

Currently - För närvarande

The girl currently has no plans after school, but her friend is planning on asking her to go have a coffee.

Qualified - Kvalificerad

The pilot is the only one on the plane who is qualified to fly it.

Propose - Föreslå

The teacher let the students leave early, because the student who proposed the idea was so convincing.

Receive - Motta

Any child would be happy to receive a gift on their birthday.

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Commentary
This is an article which shines a light on a few very interesting points about the political situation in the UK

when analyzed further: on a top level, it’s a positive change for asylum seekers both being suggested and

listened to, which suggests that there is a certain level of openness, at least in Glasgow. That leads us to the

second point: this article highlights the differences between the different nations united within the UK and

provides some insight into the political difficulties that may arise in this form of governing.

The city of Glasgow wants asylum seekers to be able to work — an issue which would be positive

for asylum seekers because they could earn more money than £5 a day, and positive for the government

because these people’s lives would not have to be funded by taxes. It appears that the taskforce which is

responsible for this move has been hard at work trying to improve the situation for refugees in general and

that both the Scottish and UK government are listening1.

Furthermore, this article gives some insight into how the governing of nations within the UK work.

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland, and when they want to allow refugees to work in their city they do

not only have to go through the Scottish national government, but also through the UK government. This

raises an interesting question: if the opinions on refugees are drastically different between say Scotland and

England, how does that affect what the next step will be for the city of Glasgow? In this hypothetical case,

England’s adversity to allowing asylum seekers to work could mean that they wouldn’t be allowed to work

in Glasgow. The article also highlights that it is the cooperation between these different levels of

government that has created the taskforce to begin with, so it does show that working together closely is

the best way to assure that voices are heard and all opinions considered.

1
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/glasgow-refugees-in-line-for-a-job-l66v98t8j