Focused discussion on supporting asylum seekers and refugees to volunteer
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Created by Debbie Ambrose Last updated a year ago Tags:
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Debbie Ambrose
06 November 2023 at 2:37pm
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This discussion took place on 1 November 2023
A variety of organisations were represented at this discussion, and this led to some enlightening conversation with lots of questions, similar challenges and some great suggestions. It was also recognised that many of you were in the process of recruiting a number of asylum seekers and refugees.
DBS
Getting an individual DBS checked is probably the biggest challenge that most of you will face, and the process can be long. However, there is help and advice available as it is more beneficial to work on these barriers collectively rather than individually.
One suggestion was to reach out to your local DBS provider in the event of any problems. One of our guests had done this and a session was put together for her team, focusing specifically on DBS and volunteering. This was really helpful in understanding more about how to navigate the process. There is a regional list of DBS coordinators across the UK and one of your guests has offered to share this with the group.
Another suggestion was to contact the Home Office for help with documentation. One of our guests from Wales found them particularly helpful, especially for asylum seekers. With refugees it can be a little harder as they may have had to leave their country of origin in a hurry. She has asked for a flow chart from the Home Office to see if there is a definitive scheme that they can follow. However, it is important to recognise that individual circumstances can vary widely.
There was another comment about reaching out to the community to access your local refugee charitable groups and local community hubs. There are often resources in your local community to support applications and pastoral care. If you are in the Wales area the ‘Ethnic Minorities and Youth Support’ team are very helpful and supportive. Their website address is https://eyst.org.uk/
References
This has been a sticking point for anyone who wants to volunteer, irrespective of their background, and
in Wales there is no longer a need for references as part of the volunteer onboarding process. For every volunteer role there is a role description and risk assessment with an additional assessment for anyone working with young people.
The Dept of Health & Social Care is seeking the views of volunteer managers, VCSE organisations and volunteers in response to the proposal to remove the need for a full employment history when appointing health and care volunteers. The consultation period will run until 18 November 2023. DHSC hopes to understand from this whether the remaining pre-employment checks would be enough to ensure the suitability of volunteer applicants.
The link to the consultation can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/pre-employment-checks-for-health-and-care-volunteers
Please direct any further questions regarding this consultation to volunteeringconsultation@dhsc.gov.uk
The right to volunteer
For a clear definition the NVCO website was highly recommended and again, the Home Office has been found really helpful.
Fingerprinting
This is often used as a last resort for ID. The person is required to go to their nearest police station and although it is an easy process for some this can be a traumatic experience and they will be hesitant to do this.
Again, working with other organisations can prove helpful in these circumstances. EYST (mentioned above) have proved very helpful in this area as they have case workers who can assist.
Language barriers.
Most volunteers have excellent English however may find regional UK accents difficult to understand. The advice was to look at each case individually and perhaps pair the volunteer up with another volunteer or a member of staff for a period of time.
Finding meaningful volunteer roles.
As the DBS checks can take six months to a year it was recommended that you look at your roles to see if there are any tasks and roles that you can begin to design and develop that will benefit your service users without needing a DBS check. By the time the DBS has come through the volunteers will have completed their training and gained experience that they can use in more meaningful roles.
There was a question around whether a volunteer could shadow a member of staff whilst waiting for their DBS to come through. There wasn’t a definitive answer to this question but there was a suggestion that risk assessments could be utilised in this situation.
There are some roles that can be undertaken without a DBS. One organisation can offer a befriending role that is supported by staff and a buddy system, so that the volunteer is not operating alone.
Other ideas include:
Success stories
Despite all of the barriers there are some great success stories and projects in the pipeline.
A volunteer who had been in the country for 18 months had a medical background and is now looking for further experience and possibly further education in Wales.
A number of people are coming through the Volunteer to Career programme. To date one organisation has five volunteers who have gone on to secure paid jobs.
“It is hard work but it’s rewarding to watch them progress and succeed in finding a career.”
In Ealing one of our guests is looking at a project where they want to use interpreters. They work in the community and are looking to go to a local hotel and do health checks for the residents. This is to be a co-produced project where they will use interpreters from the groups of people staying in the hotels. They are also looking at setting up community cooking classes for asylum seekers and refugees run by asylum seekers and refugee volunteers.
The British Red Cross are piloting a pool of national interpreters so they can help the applicants understand the interview questions and the training. It is in-house at the moment, but it is possible that in the future it could be rolled out to others. They have also completed an exciting piece of work recently where volunteering roles have been co-produced with refugees.
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