ROOF Blog

Communities secretary John Denham has announced a £70 million migration impact fund, funded by a levy on migrants, that will be used to tackle illegal working practices and reduce local pressure on public services. Nearly 200 projects will receive funding with every region benefitting, but the amounts each receives will be weighted towards areas where migrants have had the greatest short-term impact. Funding in housing is being targeted on cracking down on rogue landlords.

The strict working restrictions for Eastern Europeans will not be scrapped the government announced recently. The worker registration scheme ‘works for the British labour market and the country as a whole’ and allows for planning for local services, the government argued, while maintaining the restrictions means A8 nationals will not have full access to benefits until they have been working and paying tax for at least 12 consecutive months.

A government homelessness adviser has admitted that charities are keeping homeless eastern European migrants alive, as the government ‘dithers’ over what to do with them. Michelle Binfield said that A10 migrants – from countries that joined the EU in 2004 – were a problem for the government as a minority had not managed to find work and were living an ‘alcohol-fuelled life’ on the streets. The government appears to be relying on a safety net provided by the voluntary sector to keep them alive until a policy response is decided.

People moving to the UK for work or study from outside the EU will have to pay an extra £50 on top of the visa fee. The two-year scheme, which will raise £70 million to fund more police support and translators, was announced by communities secretary Hazel Blears yesterday. She acknowledged that migrants already contributed to services through taxes, but said the visa fund would provide extra money to ‘ease the transition’ for areas that had seen a big influx of immigrants.

The UK could be home to almost 750,000 illegal immigrants, following an estimated rise in their numbers since 2001, a Home Office study for London mayor Boris Johnson has said. Mr Johnson has called an amnesty for many of them ‘morally right’, although the government has warned that it would become a ‘pull factor’ for more immigrants. The study looked at the economic impact of an amnesty for illegal immigrants and estimated that if a minimum of five years’ residence in the UK was required to qualify, 450,000 illegal immigrants could be granted amnesty.

A new study by the Institute of Public Policy Research has found that there is no evidence to suggest that large-scale migration from eastern Europe since 2004 has had a negative impact on wages or unemployment. Figures out this week from the Homes Office found a 47 per cent drop in the number of migrants coming to the UK from eastern Europe at the end of last year as the recession began to bite.

Under the Borders, Immigration and Citizenship Bill new arrivals into the UK will have to ‘earn’ the right to a passport rather than automatically receive it after five years’ residence. Migrants will need to demonstrate good English skills and a knowledge of life in Britain. People who do no voluntary work will qualify only after eight years and those who become unemployed will be asked to leave. Social benefits including social housing will not be available to migrants who have not completed a probationary citizenship of one-five years.