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Training Fund: Non-UK Nationals Entitlements to Social Assistance

Training Fund: Non-UK Nationals Entitlements to Social Assistance

Training Fund: Non-UK Nationals Entitlements to Social Assistance

Tuesday, June 25, 2024

Molly, Volunteer Coordinator at Hackney Night Shelter tells us about the benefits her team received after attending Non-UK Nationals Entitlements to Social Assistance training.

Hackney Night Shelter (HNS) provide emergency accommodation to individuals facing homelessness all-year-round. While their guests stay at their 20-bed mixed shelter, or 6-bed women’s shelter, the staff team work with them and their caseworkers to build a sustainable pathway out of homelessness. This is done primarily through securing longer-term accommodation, but also stable employment and more holistic support.

HNS’s volunteer community cook hot meals and look after guests and shelters in the absence of staff, and HSN provide regular events and training for them. HSN's shelters are a safe and consistent base, for people who have slipped through the gaps, to springboard into the next chapter of their life.  

The Need

The many of HSN’s guests have recently been evicted from Home Office accommodation, with no support on how to navigate welfare benefits, housing or access to work, leaving many to become destitute.  Volunteers and staff often have questions about what different guests are entitled to, dependent on their status and what support is out there.   

“At Hackney Night Shelter we are very reactive to changing environments. Many Hackney Night Shelter guests are people who have found themselves on the wrong side of a succession of policies and legislation designed to make it more difficult for non-UK nationals to enter and remain in the UK, and to make life harder for migrants and other.  

Recent scandals around the use of insanitary barges as accommodation and the proposed offshoring of asylum seekers to Global South countries are only the latest dehumanizing developments.” 

Taking part in the training was part of a series of events that the HSN have been running each month to bring volunteers together, and educate the team about the current landscape of homelessness in the UK.  

“We want to be a community that that better understands those we support.” 

The Training

The team attended training on ‘Non-UK Nationals Entitlements to Social Assistance’, which was provided by Benjamin Morgan, who has who has been involved in migrant solidarity projects in and around Hackney since 2015. He helped set up Akwaaba, a social centre for migrants, and the campaign group North East London Migrant Action (NELMA). 

The training was in-person, with talks from Benjamin along with discussion activities. It was hosted at The Salvation Army and covered different immigration statuses and their implications for homeless non-UK nationals' entitlement to housing and welfare support. 

The Impact

The training was instrumental in increasing the engagement of HSN’s core regular volunteers.  

“Those that attended informed me that they now had a better understanding of our guest’s experience. The team are now keen to learn more and attend more trainings.” 

The training was also able to increase HSN’s staff and volunteer confidence in speaking to guests about their entitlements and the support available to them. The training has also since opened up a wider conversation about the inequality in access to support, and connected people with the bigger picture beyond the shelter. 

The team at HSN found that applying for funding through the training fund ensured that they thought in depth about the reasons for their event, and why it was essential.  

“The Frontline Network were very communicative and greatly appreciate their support! Thank you!” 

If you have, or your team has, a training need that you are struggling to pay for

APPLY TO OUR TRAINING FUND

and we will do all that we can to help.

 

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