As the Labour Party Conference continues in Liverpool, in communities across Scotland, a hidden crisis is unfolding.

Thousands of individuals, many of whom have lived here for years, even decades, are facing extreme deprivation, destitution and homelessness. This is not the result of an economic downturn or natural disasters, but a direct consequence of UK immigration policy – specifically ‘hostile environment’ policies that exclude people in a wide range of circumstances from accessing statutory supports including benefits and housing assistance. As our recent research reveals, this policy is creating destitution by design.

Radical and urgent reforms are needed that prioritise people’s ability to access the essentials and live a dignified life. The new UK Government must commit to ending the unnecessary hardship that is being caused by current immigration policy and urgently change course.

For the last two years, we have been working with a partnership of migration and homelessness charities seeking to help migrants facing destitution in Scotland. This partnership - Fair Way Scotland - provides casework support, legal advice, accommodation, and modest financial help. The people they work with have No Recourse to Public Funds or Restricted Eligibility for mainstream social and housing supports.

The integrated support provided by Fair Way Scotland partners is transformative, even lifesaving, for those who can benefit from it. However, demand far outstrips availability. Scaling up the partnership is now critical given the growing demand for help, but mitigation programmes like this shouldn’t be necessary.

Demand for Fair Way Scotland case work support increased by 65% last year, reflecting wider evidence that migrant destitution has skyrocketed. According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s Destitution in the UK report, destitution among migrants increased by 136% between 2019 and 2022, more than double the 61% increase in general destitution over the same time-period.

Read more

Our own survey of those getting support from Fair Way Scotland found that almost all (97%) are destitute, surviving on an average of just £40 per week. A third reported they had no income at all in the last month. A shocking 93% are experiencing homelessness, with one in eight sleeping rough. Two-thirds report going without meals, clothes, and basic toiletries. While many relied on charities for support with such essentials, this kind of help was not always available and was often experienced as degrading.

Two thirds of those we spoke to are not allowed to work, blocking their ability to support themselves out of these dire circumstances and stifling their ability to contribute to the society they desperately want to make their home. These counterproductive hostile environment policies affect thousands of people across Scotland, crushing their potential. The level of need is shocking, but the issue is entirely preventable with concerted action.

These aren't just statistics; they represent real people – our neighbours, members of our communities - who have been systematically stripped of their ability to live a minimally flourishing life by a policy that seems designed to create suffering: Sofija, a European national who has lived in Scotland for nine years, faced extreme vulnerability sleeping rough before she was finally able to secure settled status thanks to a Fair Way Scotland caseworker; Jamal came to the UK 17 years ago to seek asylum from persecution but is still locked out of work and welfare supports; Kunal arrived in the UK more than a decade ago as a 26-year-old to pursue his education and escape homophobic persecution in his home country.

Unable to afford student accommodation, Kunal stayed in an overcrowded two-room flat with 12 other people, making it difficult to focus on his studies. He was robbed, his college closed and his visa application was refused, and so he became homeless, sleeping rough and in shelters where he faced threats and exploitation. He walked the streets in minus temperatures, hungry, in fear for his safety and terrified of losing his vital documents.

A turning point came when the Scottish Refugee Council assisted him in submitting a fresh application and he is currently in temporary accommodation. Kunal remains anxious about his uncertain future, caught between the fear of danger at home and his continued insecurity in the UK.

The levels of need, deprivation, disadvantage and trauma experienced by people with No Recourse to Public Funds amounts to a humanitarian crisis among a group often hidden from public view, but whom politicians and policy makers know are here and have the power to help.

The UK Government must simplify routes to settlement, process all claims fairly and quickly and require, empower and adequately resource local, regional and devolved governments to provide an immediate basic safety net for all.

While such action is being taken at a UK level, Scottish Government, independent funders, housing associations and local authorities must work together - using all the tools at their disposal - to mitigate the harms and costs imposed on those effected. Until they do, public services including NHS emergency care and charities will continue to bear the entirely preventable and costly brunt of national immigration policy. It's time to stop passing the buck.

Beth Watts-Cobbe is a professor of social policy research at Heriot-Watt University