stay silent, stay complicit
Photo by Studio Lenca
By Razia, KRAN CEO
We seem to be living in a very crazy and extreme moment in time, not just because of the heatwaves, the wars and the World Cup!
I attended a recent workshop on No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) organised by the University College London Social Research Institute, which some of our young people and caseworkers were involved with. The research, entitled Shadows, was ethnographic, so time was spent with those living with NRPF to understand the impact on them.
At least two million people in the UK are not entitled to any form of state support, even if they are allowed to work and pay taxes, even with refugee status or humanitarian protection. Some of the cases are women and men who came over as part of family reunification, or on a spousal visa and then survived domestic violence, left their partner and then had to go through a long bureaucratic process to claim state support.
Some of the quotes cut right through all the policies and procedures and spoke to our common humanity. When you have a quiet moment read and reflect on the project’s briefing note about “policy cliff edges” facing unaccompanied young people here.
Ironically, stopping vulnerable individuals from accessing public funds is very shortsighted and inefficient because it makes it harder for them to get on their feet, earn money and contribute back into society. They are also more likely to suffer from mental health problems and become associated with negative pathways increasing the burden on public services, like the NHS and police. You can learn more about the cost-benefit analysis of removing NRPF from families from the London School of Economics here.
At the same moment, the government is pushing through the Asylum and Immigration Bill, which is akin to the last government’s initiatives. All hope is now focused on Andy Burnham, our new Prime Minister. There is a great analysis by Fight for Asylum Rights of the many anti-refugee laws and their implications: The Anti-Refugee Laws - Fight for Asylum Rights.
The narrative and rhetoric is having an impact across the sector in the funding and support we receive. Refugee Action, Refugee Council and other leading names in the sector are struggling, as well as smaller charities like KRAN.
Refugee Action CEO Tim Hilton recently posted on Linkedin: “We know many organisations in the charity sector and specifically in the migration sector are experiencing similar [financial challenges]. We also know we are more privileged than many in that we have dedicated fundraising resources.
“However, the make-up of our finances is changing significantly. This is because of the wider pressures on the charity sector as a whole, the attacks on our cause leading to increased caution from some donors and - specific to our organisation - where long-standing, core sources of income such as refugee resettlement contracts have decreased.”
KRAN and a number of other local and national refugee charities were recently targeted in a Facebook post stating incorrectly that we were being funded by tax payers’ money to bring migrants to the UK and that we should be banned and our funding withdrawn.
This post received more than 6.8k views and over 600 comments. Some groups have made public statements about it: https://www.migrantsorganise.org/statement-we-wont-retreat/ and there have been articles about the far right ecosystem by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism: https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026-07-06/sinister-calls-and-threats-against-schools-how-a-migrant-charity-was-targeted-by-the-far-right.
The challenge here is how to hold political parties to account for what they say on social media when it is defamatory and incorrect. At present, apart from the Online Safety Act and Ofcom standards’ regulators there is no way to stop this. So, with the pending elections locally and nationally over the next few years, we will have more political game playing with the issue of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants.
If we think the UK is getting crazy and extreme, in America things are even more acute. When New York Mayor Mamdani was recently jeered not for his political views, not for his “jumping into a swimming pool in a full formal suit” stunt in aid of a charity, not for his actions as mayor, but because of who he is. His response resonates: “Those with power and platform dehumanise us... public silence allows it to fester as politics as usual, now trade in outrage.”
We need to be bold and united across all parts of society, to build bridges not walls between us. We need to see those who, through no fault of their own, have had to flee persecution, as humans, as assets who have potential to thrive given the right help.
I see this everyday in our young people - we can do more in these challenging times, but only with your support.