Challenges Faced by Refugees in the UK: Inequality in Access to Basic Needs and Services

The study evaluates the challenges faced by refugees in the UK in accessing basic needs and services. It also examines the government policies adopted to address the inequality in job places or in the community.

Running head: TOPIC 3: REFUGEES
Topic 3: Refugees
Name of the student:
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Author note:

1TOPIC 3: REFUGEES
Introduction: There are evident differences between the term refugees and asylum
seekers. Asylum seekers are those who are not yet being granted the refugee status. A refugee
status means receiving the rights to live for a long-term or even for an indefinite period of time
(Stewart and Mulvey 2014). Refugees are those who are not able to live in their home countries
due to problematic political, social and economic conditions and opt to move to the other parts of
the world. The United Kingdom is one of those parts of the world where a significant population
of refugees arrives on a yearly basis. In the UK, 90% of asylum seekers are from the Asian or
African countries (Fullfact.org 2018). The top five nations contributing to asylum application
lists in the UK are Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Bangladesh (Fullfact.org 2018). Asylum
seekers face challenges in accessing to services unless they are not granted the refugee status.
Life becomes difficult then. The study is aimed at identifying whether refugees are treated
equally as the native peoples in the UK. The study also evaluates the government policies
adopted to address the inequality in job places or in the community.
Part 1: Nature and extent of the area of inequality
Refugees face challenges in fulfilling their basic needs when they wait for attaining the
rights to live and also after being approved for the same. In few instances, asylum seekers unless
they are not granted the refugee status they are able to access the basic needs as designed by the
national government. Asylum does also struggle in significant cases until they receive the
refugee status. They are not allowed to access or receive the mainstream benefits. They are not
also allowed to work. It means they are under pressure from all ends. The severity becomes
worsen when asylum seekers are denied to get the health services from top experts or the medical
institutions. However, once they are recognised as refugees, they are left to struggle and have to
face the sudden cut-off in supports. The very similar thing is happening in the United Kingdom.

2TOPIC 3: REFUGEES
According to a report published in the Independent, the percentage of refugees and asylum
seekers living in a status of food poverty has augmented by 20% (The Independent.co.uk 2018).
Additionally, thousands who were being granted the protection in the United Kingdom are left
on the breadline (The Independent.co.uk 2018). Charity firms and campaigners are now
requesting for an enhancement in the service period which is given to asylum. The services as of
now are cut off largely such as housing after 28 days of awarding the refugee status (The
Independent.co.uk 2018).
In the light of the facts presented in the aforesaid section, this can be said that refugees
and asylum seekers face a lot of challenge in the United Kingdom. They live in a sense of fear
until their applications are not approved. It might also be rejected. The rejected asylum will have
to return back to the home countries. Life as asylum seekers is full of challenge and requires a
resilient character to bear the hardships during such period. It takes a long time until the
applications of asylum are approved (Goodman, Sirriyeh and McMahon 2017). Asylum seekers
are forced to spend life without any access to mainstream benefits for a longer period of time.
Some of the asylum seekers are very badly affected by the problematic conditions in their home
countries. They are left with nothing when they arrive in foreign countries. Life as asylum
seekers for such peoples is comparatively more challenging. They are not able to enjoy even a
basic life. They are forced to follow the strict rules for meals in rented housing. They are not able
to access to quality doctors those who are even close to their house. They can only access the
doctors who are entitled by the national government (Kum 2017).
Refugees whose applications get approved are not safe either. They are left to struggle for
foods and shelter. Most of the supports are withdrawn once asylums are approved as the
refugees. Refugees are discriminated at the different stages such as during the interviews. The

3TOPIC 3: REFUGEES
difference is quite evident between native peoples and the refugees in terms of interview success
rates. They are also discriminated in schools, universities and offices. Nevertheless,
discrimination is a serious threat to refugees as it causes a lot of physical, social and
psychological losses to them. Children are discriminated in schools which ultimately affects their
cognitive capability. A cognitive capability is utterly required to capture and process the
information. It affects the attention, thinking and memory of victimised children (Kaplan et al.
2016).
Part 2: Evaluating the policies and approaches adopted to address the inequality either in the
workplace or in the community
Heath inequalities with refugees are very certain as the government policies are not
adequately providing the needed assistance. Refugees are reported to have symptoms of anxiety
and depression. It becomes severe due to unsupportive social, economic and political structure of
the host country. Factors such as poverty, compulsory detention, housing, unemployment and
social isolation are few of the major factors which make lives difficult for refugees. Additionally,
refugees are from countries that follow different models for conceptualising the health diseases,
anxiety and stress than the host country. It means that health counselling jobs with the refugees
will be lot more challenging (Taylor, 2009). These facts state that it is very difficult for the UK
government to realise a provision for health related treatments for refugees. Even if the
government intends to provide the required support, refugees will still struggle to access the
quality treatment. This may be due to the different models of health practices and also due to the
unknown diseases which the refugees carry. Notably, health behaviours will be different and
hence, the level of service will also struggle to provide the needed support (Chimienti and
Solomos 2016).

4TOPIC 3: REFUGEES
Post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) have been reported in high rates. The medical
intervention is yet incapable to resolve to provide the relief from. Few argue that refugees need
social rather than the medical intervention for the psychological distress in them (Heide, Mooren
and Kleber 2016). Financial challenges are quite worsening for refugees. Most refugees are
impoverished when they arrive in the UK. Those who apply for asylum are soon entitled to
numerous benefits like 70% of normal earnings support (Taylor, 2009). They are offered
accommodation in certain parts of the country where asylum seekers will have tough routines to
follow like strict meal menus. If due to any reason like racist abuse individual moves to another
place, the very next moment the individual will be barred from receiving the benefits. Claims
will be refused and their benefits will cease as well. Such situation often leads to destitution
(Chouliaraki and Zaborowski 2017). Under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, in most cases
asylum seekers are not entertained to the added welfare remunerations (Taylor, 2009). There are
potential challenges as well as the language barrier. Asylum seekers with low income can still
claim the reimbursement for the prescription charges. However, they will be needed to fill up the
relevant form in English. Hence, there are evident gaps between the right to and the provision of
support (Chouliaraki and Zaborowski 2017).
Refugees are socially boycotted in various regards like principles of respect, self-efficacy
and autonomy. Nevertheless, these are essentially required and thought of so as helping to attain
positive health (Drožđek 2015). Under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, asylum seekers
are moved to places which are already deprived, so that, heath related treatments are made
available to them. However, asylum seekers are not exposed to quality treatment and forced to
live with barriers to care (Mulvey 2015). The current policy of the UK government is divided
into two sections or tier such as failed asylum seekers and applied for asylum. Hence, treatments

5TOPIC 3: REFUGEES
will be differentiated as well like primary and secondary cares. It will also include the
entitlement to emergency or routine treatment. These systems of treatment just produce a fact
that treatment will be withheld unnecessarily. For example, failed asylum seekers will be entitled
to testing and counselling only for HIV; however, will be denied from treating HIV with
antiretroviral drugs (Drožđek 2015).
Conclusion: In summary, it looks apparent that refugees are treated unequally on
different platforms like education, health treatments, accommodation, foods and others. Life
before securing the status as refugees is not dissimilar to that of life as refugees in most regards.
Asylum seekers face the challenge at the social, psychological, geographical and the medical
levels. There are evident gaps in the numerous government policies for asylum seekers and the
failed asylums in terms of entitlement to and the provision to support. Refugees, on the other
hand, do not also have a supportive environment. They are discriminated in schools, universities
and in job-places. Discrimination is threatening for children and the adults as well. Children in
particular are badly affected by discrimination. It affects the development of cognitive ability
which helps children to capture and process the data accordingly.

6TOPIC 3: REFUGEES
References
Chimienti, M. and Solomos, J., 2016. How do international human rights influence national
healthcare provisions for irregular migrants?: A case study in France and the United
Kingdom. Journal of Human Rights, 15(2), pp.208-228.
Chouliaraki, L. and Zaborowski, R., 2017. Voice and community in the 2015 refugee crisis: A
content analysis of news coverage in eight European countries. International Communication
Gazette, 79(6-7), pp.613-635.
Drožđek, B., 2015. Challenges in treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder in refugees: Towards
integration of evidence-based treatments with contextual and culture-sensitive
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Fullfact.org. 2018. Refugees in the UK. Retrieved from https://fullfact.org/immigration/uk-
refugees/
Goodman, S., Sirriyeh, A. and McMahon, S., 2017. The evolving (re) categorisations of refugees
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Heide, F.J.J.T., Mooren, T.M. and Kleber, R.J., 2016. Complex PTSD and phased treatment in
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refugee children: effects of trauma and new language acquisition. Transcultural
psychiatry, 53(1), pp.81-109.

7TOPIC 3: REFUGEES
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UK perspective. Available from
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The Independent.co.uk. 2018. A growing number of refugees and asylum seekers are falling
destitute in Britain, figures show. Retrieved from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-
news/number-of-refugees-and-asylum-seekers-falling-into-poverty-soars-in-a-year-show-figures-
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