Home Office hostile environment policy Facts for Kids

The UK Home Office hostile environment policy is a set of rules and laws designed to make it very difficult for people without official permission to stay in the United Kingdom. The idea was that these people might then "voluntarily leave" the country. The Home Office first announced this policy in 2012. It was part of a plan to reduce the number of people coming to the UK, as promised by the Conservative Party in 2010.

Many people have called this policy one of the toughest immigration policies in UK history. It has been widely criticized for being unfair, not working well, and even against the law. The United Nations Human Rights Council said the policy made people in the UK more fearful or disliking of people from other countries (this is called xenophobia). The Equality and Human Rights Commission found that the policy broke laws about treating everyone equally.

A big problem caused by this policy was the Windrush generation scandal. Many people from Commonwealth countries, who had lived in the UK for a long time and had a right to be there, were deported because they couldn't prove their right to stay. This led to Amber Rudd resigning as Home Secretary in 2018. Sajid Javid then took over her role.

What is the Hostile Environment Policy?
Criticisms of the Policy
Media Coverage
See also

What is the Hostile Environment Policy?

The "hostile environment" policy was introduced to make life harder for people living in the UK without permission. The goal was to encourage them to leave the country on their own.

How the Policy Started

In 2012, Theresa May, who was the UK's Home Secretary at the time, introduced the policy. She said the aim was to create "a really hostile environment for illegal immigrants" in Britain. Before this, in 2007, Liam Byrne, an immigration minister, had also talked about creating a "much more hostile environment" for people in the country illegally.

Main Parts of the Policy

The policy included several measures to make it difficult for people without permission to stay:

Deport First, Appeal Later: In some cases, people could be deported from the UK first, and then appeal the decision later. This was only if there was no risk of serious harm to them.
ID Checks: The policy made it a requirement for landlords, the NHS, banks, and even some charities to check people's identification. This was to make sure they had the right to be in the UK.
Encouraging Voluntary Departure: The government used different ways to encourage people to leave voluntarily. This included using "Go Home" vans with messages on them and placing adverts in newspapers and shops.

Problems with the Policy

The policy faced many problems and criticisms:

Wrong Decisions: In 2018, the Home Office lost 75% of its appeals when people challenged their rejections for refugee status. This showed that many decisions were wrong.
Impact on Skilled Workers: A review in 2018 found that the Home Office tried to deport at least 300 highly skilled migrants, like teachers and doctors. Many of these people had lived in the UK for over 10 years and had children born there. They were often given only 14 days to leave.

Criticisms of the Policy

The Hostile Environment policy has been widely criticized for many reasons. People said it was confusing and led to many incorrect threats of deportation.

Impact on Police Work

More than half of the UK's police forces admitted sharing details of migrant victims and witnesses of crimes with the Home Office. This was for immigration enforcement. Only three police forces said they did not do this.

Victims Arrested: There were cases where victims of serious crimes were arrested when they reported the crime.
Fear of Reporting: This practice made undocumented people in the UK afraid to report crimes against them. They feared being arrested and deported themselves.
New Guidance: In December 2018, the National Police Chiefs’ Council said that police should always treat someone reporting a crime as a victim first. They advised against checking victims' immigration status just to share it with immigration officials.
Calls for Firewall: Many charities called for a "firewall," which means a complete ban on sharing information between police and immigration officials.

Impact on Housing

The "Right to Rent" scheme, part of the hostile environment, made landlords check tenants' immigration status.

Discrimination and Homelessness: Charities and landlords said this scheme was unfair and led to discrimination against tenants based on their race or nationality. It also contributed to homelessness.
British Citizens Affected: In 2019, it was found that even some British citizens became homeless because of the strict rules on the right to rent.
Asylum Seeker Camps: In 2020, the Home Office used military barracks, like Penally Training Camp, to house asylum seekers. The conditions there were described as very poor. The Welsh Government said the camp did not meet basic human needs and should be closed.

Impact on Healthcare (NHS)

Medical professionals criticized the policy because it charged migrants 150% of the usual rates for NHS treatment.

Avoiding Doctors: This made people avoid visiting doctors because they feared their details would be shared with the Home Office or that they couldn't afford the bills.
Denied Care: There were cases where people were wrongly denied urgent healthcare, including cancer treatment and even end-of-life care.
COVID-19 Impact: The policy was also blamed for making the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom worse. It made it harder to track the virus and do mass testing. It also contributed to a shortage of healthcare staff during the pandemic.

Impact on Trafficking Victims

Under the hostile environment policy, victims of modern slavery were sometimes jailed, even though this went against the Modern Slavery Act 2015. Some victims were even deported by the Home Office.

Reduced Support: In 2018, the Home Office reduced financial support for victims of modern slavery. However, a court later ordered them to reverse this cut, which affected about 1,200 victims.

Government Reviews

Several reports have looked into the policy's effects:

Unequal Impact: A government assessment in 2023 found that the policy mostly affected people of brown or black heritage. Other nationalities, even if they were often in the UK illegally, were less affected.
Not Good Value: A 2018 investigation by the National Audit Office found that the policy was not put into practice carefully enough and did not provide good value for money.
Fostered Racism: A 2020 report by the Institute for Public Policy Research said the policy had encouraged racism, pushed people into poverty, and wrongly targeted people who were living in the UK legally. It also "severely harmed the reputation of the Home Office."

Media Coverage

In June 2020, BBC Television showed a drama called Sitting in Limbo. It starred Patrick Robinson as Anthony Bryan, a man who was badly affected by the policy.

Home Office hostile environment policy facts for kids

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