Jessica Kennedy of the Migrant and Refugee Communities Forum celebrates  the legacy of the Women on the Move Awards

On Thursday 6th March, 260 people gathered at the Southbank Centre to celebrate the achievements of inspirational women from refugee and migrant communities. The Women on the Move Awards, part of the WOW Festival and supported by Barrow Cadbury Trust are held to recognise the outstanding contributions that refugee women make to empowering and integrating their communities.  My organisation – The Forum – co-hosts the Awards alongside Migrants Rights Network and UNHCR.

The Awards are more than just a one night event, and aim to make an ongoing and lasting difference to the winners and their communities. The women gain recognition for, and raise the profile of, their work.  In addition, a fellowship provides access to high quality leadership development and help to build a network of exceptional women and the organisations they work with.

A month after the awards, as the dust has settled and the plaudits die down, what has changed?

Connections

Lilian Seenoi, who founded the only migrant forum in Derry-Londonderry from her kitchen table, won the Women of the Year Award for her work to ensure migrants and refugees can access support. The North-West Migrants Forum brings together diverse migrant groups and local communities which have suffered years of tension. The Awards have catapulted Lilian onto an international stage – she has just come back from Brussels, where she contributed to a public debate at the European Union on practical steps to challenge the poor treatment of migrants in Greece. She is shortly to fly to Turin, Italy, to take part in a European-wide project to tackle hate speech, before another visit to Brussels. All that before running a festival in June to bring together communities building on Derry-Londonderry’s place as UK City of Culture in 2013.

International attention also followed Tatiana Garavito, winner of the Young Woman of the Year Award for her tireless and determined work with the Latin American community in London. El Espectador, a mainstream newspaper in Colombia, published an article about Tatiana.  A short film commissioned by the Women on the Move Awards about Tatiana’s work will be shown at a documentary film festival in Colombia.  After the Awards Tatiana said they were “an amazing opportunity for us migrant women to show the world what we can achieve given a fair chance”.

Those who attended the Awards also found powerful connections. My personal highlight of the night was seeing, in the crush of the after-party, members of a collective of domestic workers connecting with a woman who works with Lilian and the North-West Migrants Forum and is trying to tackle exploitative labour practices in Northern Ireland. This fledgling relationship is continuing and already leading to mutual support, learning and, ultimately, stronger and more effective organisations.

Interest

Although the Awards receive little coverage from major news organisations, the winners and their organisations gain interest from a variety of other sources. Diana Nammi, who founded the Iranian-Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation (IKWRO) as a reaction to ‘honour’ killing and violence, was given special recognition for her tireless work. On the night, IKWRO’s twitter followers notably increased.  All our winners have been inundated with requests for interviews and articles.

Films that Women on the Move made about the Award winners have reached 5,561 viewers – spreading these courageous stories even further. As organisers, we are so glad to see how the Awards create a platform for extraordinary women to shout about their own and their organisations’ great work.  Tatiana was able to highlight the invisibility of the Latin American community in London: “with this [attention], the whole community get the recognition that we are campaigning for”.

Confidence

Perhaps most important, the women tell me, is an improvement in their confidence. Standing on stage as an Award winner, being celebrated for your work and able to share your story from a place of strength, can have a huge personal impact. From what we already know about these courageous and determined women, the only way from here is up.

We also know this is just the start of working relationships that benefit us all. As Diana, one of the award-winners, said after the ceremony, “it has been a huge pleasure – and I hope this will be a start for partnership work for the future”. The Forum hopes the Awards continue to impact throughout the year and look forward to seeing all our supporters – and more extraordinary women – in 2015! There may be only one day to celebrate international women, but Women on the Move are changing lives everyday.

It’s a commonplace to see the word ‘Roma’ juxtaposed to ‘homeless’, ‘beggar’, ‘benefits’, ‘rubbish’ and ‘migrant’ – when not tied up with trafficking and stealing children.  Unless it’s an absence as in the current UK government’s National Roma Inclusion Strategy, which pointedly hardly refers to Roma at all.  So we are forced to accept Roma ‘deficiency’ and their need for assistance or support (or solidarity even…)

What a joy then to attend an event in Manchester last month[1] where a panel considered the opposite question – how do Roma pose an opportunity for UK cities?   We heard tough head teachers say that the presence of Roma children in school had “brought us an understanding of the work ethic, and how children can be resourceful and adapt, and – a little but important thing – how young children understood how to eat together and with adults….  In fact, Roma children have done us all a service by teaching us to be better at our jobs”.  A point a leading social entrepreneur made: “Personal social services in this country are organised for Mr & Mrs Average – but rarely for anyone slightly different, let alone chaotic.  Roma are different, and if we can co-develop services with Roma then everyone would benefit”.   A young Roma woman said that it was only coming to this country that (a) she knew what discrimination was, as she’d accepted the inevitability of exclusion in her country of birth, and that (b) she became aware of her own capabilities and contribution.  A university teacher spoke about the importance of family relationships, self-reliance, innovation and adaptability (especially to earn a living) – all those virtues that are supposedly upheld by leading politicians and newspaper editors.   A leading politician talked about how young Roma people can enable neighbourhoods to become stronger and more confident as barriers and misunderstandings get broken down initially between young people.  And finally, a writer reminded us that Britain has a long, but variable history of welcoming people trying to both make a better life and escaping oppressive treatment; “do we want to move back from being one of the most tolerant and multi-ethnic countries in the world – and if so, at what cost to many of us?”

There are some critics of migration and EU migrant communities, who focus on the incidents of people who appear willing to work for very low pay in appalling conditions, and families who appear to tolerate substandard and overcrowded housing.    But isn’t this a classic illustration of ‘blame the victim’?  Where are the regulations and enforcement actions taken by, for example, HMRC against rogue employers, or by housing authorities against unscrupulous landlords?  As the social entrepreneur said at the Manchester meeting, if we can develop good services with and for Roma, everyone benefits.

The Government don’t seem to have explored the opportunities that Roma bring.  Twenty years ago, there was a strong offer of friendship and potential welcome to the East/Central European states and peoples.  But is it only their doctors and IT specialists we want; and at a pinch, the hairdresser and plumber?  The Roma communities emerge from decades of forced assimilation or forced exclusion; the UK offers hope.  And the Roma bring with them behaviours and aptitudes that are sorely needed.  What a treat to attend a meeting where the words ‘Roma’ and ‘success’ and ‘opportunity’ were heard.  The Roma Support Group applauds this type of initiative, and welcomes a growing movement within the UK of determined Roma and non-Roma activists who want to concentrate on the potential, rather than allow the mindless stereotypes to prevail in what passes for our national narrative.

www.romasupportgroup.org.uk

While the debate rages over the service impacts of migration from the EU, it’s business as usual for UK employers who recruit migrants to fill skills gaps and to get the expertise and talent they need. New NIESR research, carried out with funding from the Barrow Cadbury Trust, takes an in-depth look at why they do this, and at the views of the general public who work with migrants. It finds a more positive picture than is often painted.

Re-focusing the debate on the real issue of economic migration

The current debate about migration, in the political arena and in policy and research communities, has focused on the short term impacts on labour markets, public services and public finances. These have taken centre stage in recent Government announcements and policy plans, fuelled by perceptions of public opinion on migration and concerns about the potential impact of any future migration from new EU member states. With less than two months now to January 2014 when UK borders will fully open to Romanians and Bulgarians, debates have centred on service use and abuse, with claims of ‘health tourism’ and ‘benefit tourism’.  You might be forgiven for thinking that no-one comes to the UK as a real tourist anymore.

A new report from NIESR moves the spotlight away from service impacts back to the main driver of migration, which is economic. The research looks specifically at skilled migration, a key issue for employers. The research also finds interest among the general public in issues of skills and migration, despite the heated debate over benefits, services and ‘crowding out’ of low skilled occupations.

Why recruit skilled migrants?

Employers across the four sectors of Pharmaceuticals, IT, Higher Education and Finance, gave three main reasons for recruiting from outside the UK: where the supply of skills from within the UK is inadequate; to recruit high level skills which are in short supply world-wide; and to complement the skills of non-migrants. This was at odds with the perceptions of focus group participants drawn from the general public: they saw cost issues as a key factor in why employers recruit migrants while these were less important than other factors for employers when recruiting for skilled posts.

One of the reasons for this disparity comes from the perception of a migrant worker. For the general public, this conjured up an image of an Eastern European in low skilled, low paid work. This was very much at odds with the views of employers who, while recruiting at different skill levels, saw skilled migration as most important in meeting their needs. When focus group participants reflected on it, they realised that the migrants they worked alongside were from a wide range of backgrounds and brought valued skilled and experiences to their teams.

While concerned about unskilled migration, focus group participants immediately understood the need for skilled migration. This was apparent even among participants who were generally opposed to immigration. However, while accepting that overseas recruitment is necessary where specialist posts are difficult to fill, focus group participants also believed that skills shortages result from an unwillingness to work among some sections of the UK population. They also believed that young people are ill-prepared for employment, and lack technical and employability skills. But what did they think should be done? They believed that the UK education system and individuals themselves need to change so that the UK born do not lose out in the jobs market.

Focus group participants were also concerned that some talented and motivated young British people might be losing out where employers recruit migrants instead of locals. Some felt it has become easy for employers to recruit ready-trained and experienced employees and that training is disincentivised. Employers said this was not what they do, they don’t recruit migrants as a substitute for training in the skills they need. This suggests that employers need to convey more clearly to the public the investment they make in the training and development of UK recruits. They may also need to be more vocal about the need to recruit from outside the UK, although in the current political climate, this is unlikely to make them popular.

For employers, skilled migrants are often not substitutes for natives, but bring additional skills which enhance non-migrants’ skills and enhance the business. A number of employers said they need people who can ‘think global’, who have a perspective on and understanding of the international nature of the business. Focus group participants recognised that employers need this outlook in their employees and felt that the UK born now need to ‘up their game’ as labour markets become increasingly global.

Migration has benefits for British employees and teams

Employers believe that the different experiences and perspectives of migrants create teams with different strengths and make workplaces more dynamic places to be. The report includes a number of examples of how employers benefit from the perspectives and approaches of UK born and migrant employees. These benefits were readily acknowledged by focus group participants who talked about how they had benefited from working with people from different backgrounds and with different perspectives and approaches. They also saw benefits to end users of services, for example in health and social work. At the same time, they were uneasy about all-migrant teams. There was particular concern where this was seen to result from networking among migrants or discriminatory recruitment practices.

Diverse teams were also seen to sometimes bring challenges, for example misunderstandings arising from language barriers and cultural differences. These challenges were also reported by employers, but were generally felt by both employers and focus group participants to be relatively minor and outweighed by the benefits.

The research findings bring some light to an overheated debate and will be welcomed by employers and employees whose own experiences don’t accord with current rhetoric around the threat of economic migration.

Dr Heather Rolfe is a Principal Research Fellow at NIESR. You can read the report in full here.

The Wren’s Nest is not a name that conjures up a positive image for most people living in the Black Country. Synonymous with a once notorious area of North Dudley, which many still would try and avoid. However, for over a year now, HOPE not hate have been working in both the Wren’s Nest and Priory estates to try and change the perceptions of the area from the outdated negative image and towards something of which residents can feel proud.

In 2011 HOPE not hate produced the Fear & Hope report, which among other findings, discovered that those who are most vulnerable to the messages of extremist organisations tend to have a very pessimistic outlook on life and their area, and believe that their future is in the hands of others. Consequently, HOPE not hate have been working hard in the Wren’s Nest and Priory to encourage local residents to view their community from a different perspective; to hopefully get them to see the positives of their area and celebrate everything that is good about their community – rather than turning to a hard estate image as a way to find their identity.

Our work does not just stop there. We also aim to help empower local residents to take action in the locality and create positive change, and hopefully give them the knowledge and skills to do this. Thankfully, both of these estates have one of the counties best community resources right on their doorstep – the Wren’s Nest Nature Reserve.

The Nature Reserve is one of the most important geological sites in the United Kingdom, and is highly regarded amongst geologists the world over. Fossils date back to an ancient tropical seabed alongside well-preserved evidence of the glacier which cut through Dudley during the Ice Age. As if this was not enough, lime mines dating back to the 17^th Century dominate the area and give a constant reminder of the role this region, and the locals’ ancestors, played in the Industrial Revolution. Most communities would be singing about this from their rooftops, unfortunately however, a small minority ruin it for others by leaving their beer cans, and other less savoury items, lying around. So when a group from IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) in Brierley Hill offered their time to get involved with some community work, HOPE not hate got in contact with them to help clean up the reserve.

The motivation behind the clean-up day was to provide a cleaner and more pleasant environment for families and children who wish to use the nature reserve during the school summer holidays. On the day around 22 volunteers gave up their time to help clear, very literally, a truck load of rubbish from the reserve.

Despite it raining all day the local volunteers remained high-spirited, and the most encouraging aspect from the HOPE not hate perspective was hearing how the volunteers changed their perception of the area quite quickly during the day.

As we started quite a few were certainly aware of the reputation of the area and were, understandably, inquisitive about its realities. For the majority, this was a part of their town to which they would never consider coming. Both the Wren’s Nest and Priory offered nothing positive to the town – it was just an area that one would whizz past on the Birmingham New Road. As we walked around, they learnt about the history of the area and were given a quick lesson in how to spot fossils of the tropical plants that would have once covered the area.

Before long the volunteers were actively, and passionately, discussing amongst one another how their thoughts on the area had been transformed and would certainly be encouraging others to check out the Wren’s Nest as an interesting place to visit. Cleaning up all that rubbish and ensuring that young children passing through the reserve do not have to see the evidence of someone’s Friday night litter on the paths and bushes was of course invaluable and will help encourage more and more residents of Wren’s Nest and Priory make better use of the resource. However, what was most important was that other locals, albeit only a small group to start with, have completely changed their attitude towards the estates, opening them up to visitors, with the ultimate aim of the estates finally lifting that sense of isolation, which has had such a damaging effect on the morale of those living there.

Owen Jones is the West Midlands Community Organiser for HOPE not hate

Here at OBV we are currently in the middle of yet another of our award-winning mentoring and shadowing scheme this one covering Birmingham and Wolverhampton with the West Midlands Civic Leadership Programme, funded by the Barrow Cadbury Trust. One particular go-getting member amidst an already elite group of 40 individuals is Sundeep Dhadley who has, it would seem, a finger in every pie and has managed to garner himself a position as the newest member and Third Sector representative of the new Policing and Crime Board in Wolverhampton.

Dhadley’s new role will mean he is directly involved in how the board set their policing priorities and he hopes to be able to address the deficit of BME viewpoints in this decision making arena. He was inspired to apply whilst sitting on another strategic board, which fed into him being recommended for this newly established one.

Sunny, as he prefers to be called, has been extremely active on the Civic Leadership Programme. He, along with other members of the programme, volunteered to help with Neena Gill’s campaign for re-election as an MEP to gain an insight into campaigning. He says he feels privileged to have been present as Gill herself explained a little about her political journey and how the role of MEP directly affects people’s lives often in ways they may not realise and how laws and legislation at the European level get handed down to Britain. He expressed a desire to eventually become an MEP and contribute to bringing long-term sustainable change to the UK and it appears to be a fully realisable dream as he shows no signs of stopping.

All this is in addition to being a full time member of OBV’s Civic Leadership Programme for the West Midlands to whom Sunny attributes his achievements for the opportunities it has afforded him. He is rubbing shoulders with MPs and Councillors and acknowledges that without OBV, it would’ve been difficult to gain such exposure and would not have been as simple to open doors to initial contact opportunities. Sunny is always asking insightful questions, a quality that has been noted by his mentors and peers alike and has brought him into the recognition of people of influence. He encourages all of us to follow his example and take the initiative. He said,

Do not be afraid to put your head above the parapet and do not worry if you don’t understand at first – ask until you do.“

The last thing Sunny insisted that I do was to thank OBV for the opportunity invested in him and that he remains eager and is looking forward to continuing to soak up all knowledge as he embarks on his Councillor shadowing of the leader of the Council in Wolverhampton, Councillor Roger Lawrence. Well done Sunny, you are a model for us all.

Many of the people we work with are entirely destitute at the time of their first contact with us and, increasingly, struggle to access even the few rights and entitlements to which they are entitled. We have seen the situation become increasingly worse since the introduction of Legal Aid cuts in April, and were not in the least surprised to read that the Government’s strategy in terms of migration policy is actually to develop a “hostile environment”, in which irregular migrants struggle to access the most basic services.

The consequences of this this strategy on the lives of vulnerable migrants can be well illustrated by the example of Carlos and his family. Carlos approached us for help to regularise his family’s status, telling us that he and his wife, Angela, had arrived from Jamaica some 12 years ago, overstaying on a visa. Their son, Anton, had been born just over 9 years on and, having been diagnosed with autism early in his childhood, Carlos and Angela had felt unable to return home, fearing that Anton’s special needs would not be met within the Jamaican education system.

The family had paid a succession of private solicitors thousands of pounds to help regularise their status, to no avail. At the time of their first contact with us, they were renting a room within private accommodation, with mother, father and Anton all sharing a double bed. Their situation was rendered yet more precarious by the fact that the rent was paid by Angela taking employment as a care worker, without permission to work.

We were able to identify legal arguments to help regularise the family’s status: case law says that the families of children resident in the UK for longer than 7 years and well integrated into the UK’s education system should be granted status. Moreover, Anton will become eligible for registration as a British citizen in just 2 months’ time when he turns 10, having spent the entirety of his life to date in the UK.

We advised Carlos that his family was eligible for support from the Local Authority under section 17 of the Children Act while the new application was under preparation and consideration by the Home Office, and went about making a referral for support to the appropriate Authority. Which is where things became complicated.

Rather than working in partnership with us in Anton’s best interests as a child in need, the Local Authority has adopted an essentially adversarial approach; the social worker responsible for conducting the assessment actually told Carlos that he had been instructed by his manager to “disregard” information we had shared about representations we were in the process of submitting to the Home Office, and both the social worker and his manager have refused to communicate with us in any way about the family’s case.

On completion of the assessment, Carlos was presented with a letter advising him that his family was not eligible for support under section 17 of the Children Act, and should take immediate steps to ‘return’ to Jamaica- a country which Anton has never so much as set foot in. We consider the decision to be illegal, and referred Carlos and his family on to Birmingham Law Centre, with whom we had a close partnership working relationship, to initiate a Judicial Review proceedings. Nightmarishly, within a fortnight of our referral, the Law Centre closed down. We have now, thankfully, identified alternative legal representation for the family, and hope that appropriate support will be put in place within a matter of days.

In the meantime, however, the family is living on food parcels we are able to provide, and experiencing harassment from the family of the landlord in whose property they are still sharing a room, not having been able to pay the rent since Angela stopped working on our advice.

Consultations are underway to make the environment in the UK even more “hostile” for families in this situation: it is proposed to give yet more power to the landlord exploiting this family’s vulnerable situation, and to restrict their access to healthcare. The reception afforded to this family by the agencies they approach for support is that they are “illegal immigrants”, who should simply leave the UK. And yet, the law actually says that this family- and particularly Anton, who knows no other life- does have a right to settlement in the UK.

Which raises a question: what use are rights if no one can help you to access them? Carlos and his family are not eligible for legal aid to help regularise their immigration status. The Local Authority responsible for the family’s basic accommodation and support needs refuses to take responsibility. Agencies which can help are so precariously funded that, like Birmingham Law Centre, they go out of business in the process of initiating legal challenges.

ASIRT, for now, is here to fight for the rights of people denied them in a “hostile environment”. But the decimation of advice and advocacy organisations across the country makes it likely that thousands of families in similar situations will be left in precarious “limbo” situations for many years to come.

Securing a place at school

RMC helped Rose to complete the application for admitting her child to the local school. It is very difficult for clients with little English to discriminate between very important and less important letters from their child’s school. Rose always brought any letters from school to RMC so that she was sure she fully understood them. When she moved to another area we assisted her in appealing the decision not to allow the child to move schools. Later Rose was obliged to return to her home country for several months and we contacted Wolverhampton Council to inform them that the child would be travelling abroad for a protracted period of time.

An adviser and client at the RMC (not those featured in these case studies

Housing debt while coping with cancer

Our client was in debt with rent arrears with their housing provider, who had contracted out collection of the debt to a private company. The debt collectors demanded that he pay each month over the phone. Because the client couldn’t speak English he had to travel to RMC each time so that an adviser could assist him.

He found the journey difficult as he was suffering from cancer, and he was being harassed by the debt collectors knocking on his door continuously. An RMC adviser contacted housing provider and explained the situation. The housing provider retrieved the debt collection from the private company and allowed the client to make payments by direct debit, which was a huge relief to the client.

In 1986 I was born 13 weeks premature by emergency caesarean. Normally parents get to hold their babies as they enter the outside world, but for my parents they could only stare at me in a box. Normally they can hear their child cry and breathe; my parents could hear only silence punctuated by the regular bleep of a heart monitor. Thanks to significant advances it is almost routine for children born as early as myself to survive. In fact, seven out of 10 do, but the odds were not as much in my favour back then.

Despite a bleak outlook numerous doctors and nurses worked hard, resulting in my condition stabilising within a few weeks. However, it was a while before I was out of the woods. I had developed a hernia and once again was in need of urgent treatment. The doctors at Pilgrim had to move me on to the care of Leela Kapila, a renowned specialist, who saved my life.

My family never forgot the actions of the staff at the Pilgrim, and particularly Kapila. And so, every year on my birthday, my parents and I became pilgrims ourselves, visiting the team at the hospital and presenting them with a birthday cake to say thank you.

I cannot begin to calculate the cost of all the doctors, nurses and medical equipment required to treat me in those early weeks, but I’m fairly sure I am still in arrears. So many of us owe our lives to the NHS and I certainly do, yet too often we can take it for granted. Indeed I often did myself as I complained about spending my birthday in a maternity ward rather than a theme park.

Douglas Jefferson outside the Pilgrim hospital in Boston, Lincolnshire, on his 18th birthday

Regular newspaper headlines will highlight poor performing hospitals, while statistics will tell us about increased rates of infections or waiting times. However, my experience of the NHS is very much a positive, happy story, which is also the case for plenty of others.

As the NHS turns 65, I am once again reminded that it is an institution I am incredibly proud of, as well as thankful for. As a result it’s a good time to reflect on our own stories with the NHS and to thank all the people who keep it running every day, helping people of all ages and welcoming new generations into the NHS. While I no longer bake birthday cakes, I am still just as thankful to the NHS and all the people who contribute to it.

Read British Future’s special briefing marking the NHS’s 65th birthday.

Help with getting citizenship

It is gratifying for Refugee and Migrant Centre staff when their clients finally achieve British citizenship, often at the end of a long, in distance and time, and tortuous journey.

Amira who was from Iraq was applying for citizenship for herself and her children. They all gained citizenship except for one son who was refused because had not passed the ‘Life in the UK’ test.

He was advised by the Government to take the test as soon as possible. However the test costs nearly £900 which the family did not have. RMC were able to support Amira and her son in appealing the decision and after a long wait his citizenship was granted.

Mental health related work

Nora was from Kuwait and seeking asylum in the UK. She had recognised mental health issues and needed support with many aspects of her life.

An advisor at the RMC

RMC made GP, hospital and physiotherapy appointments for her and organised interpreting services at these appointments. We located a dentist and booked her an appointment with ‘Healthy Minds’, a psychological therapies service for people who are experiencing common mental health problems such as depression, anxiety and stress.

We liaised with her housing provider re the condition of her accommodation and assisted her in applying for courses at a local college. When she failed to hear the outcome of her asylum interview we contacted her solicitor and the local MP who pursued her case. RMC advisers translated and explained every response so that Nora could better cope with her stressful situation.

Nora is still visiting RMC regularly and still hasn’t heard the outcome of her asylum claim.

Untangling the web

At stressful times clients need practical and emotional support from the RMC. They may visit weekly or even daily to access that support.

Benita is a refugee from Cameroon. Her children were taken into the care of the local authority following an allegation made by one of her children. RMC made an appointment with a solicitor to represent Benita and accompanied her to her first appointment to help with interpreting.

Benita’s restricted understanding of English meant that she needed RMC to help her to comprehend any communications from social services, the police and her solicitor. Sometimes her access visits to her children were cancelled at short notice and RMC helped her make arrangements to see her children more regularly.

RMC supported her in getting progress reports from her children’s school and in explaining the contents of letters from her solicitor. Benita needed to visit RMC sixteen times in eight weeks. RMC is continuing to support her with the on-going case.

Supporting single mothers

Single mothers are particularly disadvantaged because they have to negotiate their way through many government departments and formal institutions to access their own and their children’s rights whilst caring for those children, and unsupported by a partner.

Dani had had both her Income Support and her Tax Credits application disallowed because of misunderstandings and insufficient evidence on her original application forms. RMC contacted the Job Centre and HMRC to clarify the situation and then supported her in reapplying. Through RMC she accessed Maternity Allowance and food vouchers through the Healthy Start programme.

Dani was registered as self-employed and needed support with completing her tax returns correctly. When problems arose with her child’s attendance at school RMC were able to facilitate meetings so that the issues could be resolved.