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2022-03-31-accounts

SOCIAL WORKERS WITHOUT BORDERS TRUSTEE ANNUAL REPORT 1[st] April 2021-31[st] March 2022 Registered Charity No: 1174000

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Contents:

Contents:
Trustee Annual Report
Letter from the trustees 3
Charitable objects 4
Direct Work 4
Education 12
Campaigns 14
Structure, Governance and Management 16
Financial Review 18
Trustees 19
Staff 23
Volunteers 23
Reference and administrative details 24
Declaration 24
Independent Expert’s Report 25
Accounts 26

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Letter from the Trustees

In 2021 and 2022 we have seen a ramping up of government policy and media rhetoric aimed at people crossing borders. Amidst a raft of new legislation and guidance seeking to control immigration to the UK (including for people seeking asylum) children and adults continue to lose their lives at UK borders, in immigration detention centres, in housing that is not fit for purpose, and because of poverty and destitution. Between 2017 and the end of 2021, 150 people have died crossing the Channel, 25% of these deaths occurred in 2021 alone[1] . New restrictions placed on the asylum process by the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 (that creates a two-tier system contingent on means of entry to the country) seek to limit safe passage options for people fleeing persecution with the aim of deterring ‘unwanted’ migration to the UK. This move is based on two false premises. First, that by removing safe passage options people will not attempt the journey to England; time has shown that this is simply not true, people cross borders because they have to, as British-Somali poet Warsan Shire affirms “ no one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land ”.[2] Second, that inward migration to the UK, whether by people seeking refuge and/or better lives, is unwanted by the British public; with recent Ipsos Mori figures[3] revealing an upward trend in proponents of increased immigration and a downward trend in those who oppose it.

Whilst public attitudes to immigration shift in a favourable direction, government policy and attitude across the political spectrum remains steadfast in deterring migration. This hostile political (and policy) context has implications for social work. In 2021 and 2022 the UK Home Office have been trialling the National Age Assessment Board, which recruits social workers into Home Office roles to conduct age assessments for young people who are entering the UK. Social Workers Without Borders has taken a stance against the Government’s plans to make changes to how and why age assessments are carried-out, due to a concern about the ethics and reliability of medical evidence and a blurring of the social work role and our duty to children, their welfare, and best interests. Social Workers Without Borders has also taken a stance in relation to Foreign National Offenders and their access to justice. There has been significant public and political interest in the deportation via charter flights of foreign nationals in this period, and we have committed to providing the same pro bono service to foreign nationals who are facing deportation, and their children, as we have to all others who do not have access to legal aid.

Conducting our work as a charity in these times requires us to be up to date with legislative and policy change, to be represented in professional committees that are informing Government policy, and to educate and train our volunteers and the wider workforce about immigration policy, social work, and human rights to pierce hostile media stories about migration, and migrants. This is a critical time for immigration in the UK, where ratcheting government policy and rhetoric are at odds with public attitude. It is a critical time for social work too, where we are tasked, as a profession, with considering the scope and remit of our role, with whom we work and where our professional duty lies. We believe we are playing a positive role in this rapidly shifting landscape, by delivering a unique service to children, families and individuals who have limited access to justice, by educating the current and future social work workforce, and by partnering with academics, clients, and NGOs to build a campaign that hits right at the heart of these issues: demanding (and laying out the evidence) for rigorous pathways for children’s best interests to be central to immigration policy and practice.

This work would simply not be possible without our volunteers and staff. As you will hear within the pages of this report, countless volunteer hours (and crucial staff hours) go into making SWWB happen. Our volunteers and staff deliver lectures, prepare training, meet families, author expert reports, attend committees, take part in research activities, and deliver social media campaigns on top of their busy day to day roles as social workers and social work educators. The great leaps we have been able to take in the past year in recruitment and staffing, capacity building, and dedicated research time have been made possible by our funders the Tudor Trust and the Network for Social Change as well as individual donations. Every client who has access to justice is a result of the commitment of our volunteers, staff, and funders – we cannot thank you enough.

Dr Lauren Elizabeth Wroe

Co-founder and trustee

1 https://inews.co.uk/news/migrant-crisis-deaths-crossing-channel-figures-total-higher-warning-1318804 2 ‘Home’ by Warsan Shire

3 https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/immigration-tracker-october-2022

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Charitable Objects

Social Workers Without Borders ( SWWB ) was established for the public benefit to relieve need and to promote the physical and mental health of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in the UK and internationally by:

The trustees follow Charity Commission guidance on public benefit when planning and reviewing spending and activities. Social Workers Without Borders furthers its charitable objectives through its Direct Work, Education and Campaigns.

Direct work

Our Direct Work Team is made up of a dedicated team of Case Coordinators who support and supervise social workers and social work students to prepare Independent Social Work Reports. An Independent Social Work Report is a piece of expert evidence that is the outcome of a social work assessment, and makes recommendations about a person's needs, safety and welfare.

Our team of Case Coordinators are social workers who have expertise in social work practice with people with insecure immigration status and they have knowledge and experience of preparing expert evidence. Each case is allocated to a Case Coordinator, a Lead Social Work Assessor, and a Supporting Social Work Assessor. The Lead Social Work Assessor must be a qualified and registered social worker and this role is allocated to the person with the most relevant professional experience. The role of Supporting Social Work Assessor is usually allocated to new volunteers, or newly qualified social workers, or social work students.

The contribution made by our volunteers is phenomenal, and we would not be able to do the work that we do without the committed support of so many fantastic social workers and social work students. We pride ourselves on producing high quality reports, which are well received by the judiciary. Producing an Independent Social Work Report requires a lot of time and skill. We maintain the high standards of our reports, whilst also offering practitioners the opportunity for professional learning and development, by operating a robust supervision, review, and quality assurance process. To achieve this, we harnessed 1792 hours of volunteer time in our Direct Work Team.[4]

Research[5] indicates that practitioners volunteering with Social Workers Without Borders are strongly motivated by their desire for social justice and they view social work as an activity which has both the power to impact individual’s lives and make change on a societal level. Social Workers Without Borders was found to offer a practice space that aligns with practitioner’s values and makes a positive, meaningful impact on people’s lives. We believe that the model of social work developed in Social Workers Without Borders promotes good practice and offers opportunities for professional development. Furthermore, the sense of shared values and purpose provides resilience to enable social workers to uphold anti-oppressive practice when working across the spectrum of social services.

During the period 1[st] April 2021-March 31[st] 2022 the Direct Work Team accepted 32 referrals. There were a further 21 referrals received in this period that were either declined or withdrawn due to a change in the client’s circumstances. Decisions to decline cases were usually due to the lack of capacity in the team meaning the piece of work could not be

4 Volunteer time calculation : Case Coordinator 12 hours (Review the bundle, provide supervision and support to assessing social workers, review the assessment and add reviewing comment), Lead Social Work Assessor 32 hours (Review the bundle, engage with supervision, interview clients, prepare the report), Supporting Social Work Assessor 12 hours (Review the bundle, engage with supervision, interview clients, support with preparation of the report) = 56 hours. 56 x 32 cases =1792 hours

5 CULLINAN F. (2020) ‘Why they do it: a study into the motivations of social workers volunteering with migrants for Social Workers Without Borders’ in Critical and Radical Social Work, 8(1), 2020, pp.111-120 , Policy Press.

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completed in the timeframe required by the client or because the referral request fell outside the remit of Social Workers Without Borders.

29 of the Independent Social Work Reports concerned the Best Interests of children. These included;

3 of the Independent Social Work Reports concerned the needs and rights of adults. These included;

Independent Social Work Reports are a crucial piece of evidence. Adherence to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 requires decisions about children’s lives to be made with primary consideration to what is in the child’s best interests. To achieve this principle, we believe that there needs to be a holistic assessment that considers the child’s unique circumstances and needs. This is consistent with the interpretation of UNCRC 1989 Article 3 as articulated in General Comment 14, which states that:

“ Accordingly, the concept of the child’s best interests is flexible and adaptable. It should be adjusted and defined on an individual basis, according to the specific situation of the child or children concerned, taking into consideration their personal context, situation and needs. For individual decisions, the child’s best interests must be assessed and determined in light of the specific circumstances of the particular child”[6]

The assessment facilitates children’s participation in proceedings in a manner that is child-focussed and developmentally and emotionally appropriate for the child. Children have a right to be seen and heard when lifechanging decisions are being made about their lives. This approach is aligned with Article 12 of UNCRC 1989 and is explained in General Comment 12 (UNCRC, 2009), which states:

“ Article 12 stipulates that simply listening to the child is insufficient; the views of the child have to be seriously considered when the child is capable of forming her or his own views .”[7]

In addition to assessing the rights and needs of children, we have also worked with adults with multiple complex needs, such as acute mental health difficulties, physical ill-health, social isolation, destitution and homelessness. All of which present significant barriers to a person being able to resolve their immigration status and achieve the stability and safety they need.

The burden of proof in immigration and asylum matters lies with the applicant, this means that the person who is making an application to regularise their immigration status must provide the evidence to prove the circumstances that their application is based upon. The vast majority of the Independent Social Work Reports we completed were in

6 United Nations, The Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment 14, 2013

7 United Nations, The Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment 12, 2009

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instances where a person could not access legal aid funding, this means that there was no funding available to pay for an expert to prepare a report. People who do not have the funds to pay for a report themselves, are significantly disadvantaged in preparing their case. We can carry-out our work without charging a fee (pro bono), and in doing so we are able to tackle barriers to justice that are the outcome of economic disadvantage. In the period 2021/2022 we completed Independent Social Work Reports on a pro bono basis to the value of £51, 165.[8]

We are of the view that there are injustices built into the UK’s immigration and asylum system that disproportionally impact racialised people.[9] We view our work as contributing to the pursuit of a more equitable immigration system, and our practice is grounded in a commitment to antiracist social work practice.

----- Start of picture text -----
32 Independent
116 people subject
Social Work
to assessment
Reports completed
1792 hours of £51,165 pro bono
volunteer time work completed
----- End of picture text -----

Approximately two thirds of the people we completed reports for were referred by migrant justice and legal charities, this includes organisations such as: Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants,[10] Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit,[11] Refugee and Migrant Forum for Essex and London,[12] Praxis,[13] Islington Law Centre,[14] North East Law Centre,[15] Kids In Need of Defense UK,[16] Refugee and Asylum Participatory Action Research.[17]

Social Workers Without Borders’ Independent Social Work Reports are frequently sought by lawyers who are working in the charity sector, as such we consider our service to be a key component of the infrastructure that supports lawyers to ensure their clients have access to justice.

So as we can understand the impact our work makes, and what things we could improve, we asked all the solicitors that we accepted referrals from in 2021/2022 to give us feedback.

8 Pro bono work calculation: This figure is an approximation based on the following information: This agency identifies £1895 as the fee for an Independent Social Work Report. https://vivacitysocialwork.co.uk/assesments-social-workcosts#:~:text=Preparation%2C%20Assessment%20and%20Report%3A%20%C2%A31895%20%28This%20includes%20a,Assessme nts%3A%20%C2%A33500%20Initial%20Telephone%20Consultation%3A%20%C2%A3100%20per%20hour We have completed 27 assessments on a pro bono basis. 27 x £1895 = £51,165.

9 ‘ From Expendable to Key Workers and Back Again: Immigration and the Lottery of Belonging in Britain ,’ Runnymede Trust, 2020

10 https://www.jcwi.org.uk

11 https://gmiau.org

12 http://www.ramfel.org.uk/index.html

13 https://www.praxis.org.uk

14 http://www.islingtonlaw.org.uk/

15 https://www.nelawcentre.co.uk/

16 https://www.kidsinneedofdefense.org.uk/

17 http://www.rapar.co.uk/

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What difference does a report from Social Workers Without Borders make to your client's case?

----- Start of picture text -----
The report was a
key piece of
These reports are
evidence
often the only It is important in
assessment we can our client's cases
provide of the best that an
interests of children
abroad, which is independent
imperative in social worker is
complex family involved.
reunion applications.
They are independent It was given
evidence prepared by significant
experienced experts in
child protection and weight by the
welfare issues, and who tribunal judge
are adept at working
with people from who allowed the
diverse backgrounds, asylum and
with myriad
vulnerabilities and human rights
practical problems. appeal
What difference does
a report from Social
Workers Without
Borders make to your
client's case?
We have
SWWB reports instructed SWWB
are immensely on several
occasions and their
important
reports have been
evidence in
extremely useful in
these
Court and in our
applications. representations to
the Home Office
It is no
understatement to In one case the
say that the SWWB appeal was
report was allowed with the
securing leave to instrumental in Without the views of experienced judge relying on
remain for several professionals who were the SWWB
very vulnerable qualified to assess such evidence a lot
clients matters it would have
been much harder to
make the case about the
impact on the child
siblings of being
separated from my
client.
----- End of picture text -----

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Is there anything that Social Workers Without Borders could do differently to provide a better service to your client?

----- Start of picture text -----
Service was perfect and no
suggestions to be made.
At the time of the
No, you were great. I had assessment, due to Covid it
excellent feedback from my was only possible for
client about the visits from remote assessments to take
SWWB and you really made place, and I hope that now
her and her child feel that we are largely out of
listened to and respected. the pandemic in-person
Thank you. assessments can be offered
again
Is there anything
that Social Workers
Without Borders
could do differently
to provide a better
The service provided to our service to your
client is excellent, the only client?
The service was very good
improvement would be if
and adapted to the needs of
there were a shorter waiting
clients
list and if we could refer
more clients.
The report was excellent -
thorough, detailed, well-
Not really, obviously in an
sourced, compassionate and
ideal world SWWB would
persuasive. The only
have infinite resources and
negative is the waiting time
shorter waiting times but
to get one, which has
given the in depth reports
unfortunately meant I have
SWWB provide for no cost it
had to go elsewhere for an
is a fantastic service
assessment in another case
this year.
----- End of picture text -----

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Any other comments?

----- Start of picture text -----
This is a really important service
and there is nothing else quite
like it available.
Thank you so much for your
continued amazing work and to
all your fantastic volunteer
Thank you so much for all that social workers, you are an
you do. incredibly important resource
for us and both our caseworkers
and clients would be far worse
off without your service
Any other
comments?
I work on a range of different
SWWB social workers are cases for children and families,
wonderful to work with. The and some of them are non-
social workers are flexible and standard types of application. It
communicative and always can be really helpful if social
willing to assist, and have often workers have a clear
gone the extra mile to offer understanding of the different
further support and express types of immigration
concerns about particularly applications that can be made,
vulnerable clients and the context in which reports
are required.
----- End of picture text -----

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Case study 1: Independent Social Work Report completed for three children with a father subject to a Deportation Order

This assessment concerned the rights and needs of three children with a parent facing deportation. The applicant’s children were from two different relationships and lived in different areas of the UK. Two of the children were primary school age and one child was a pre-schooler.

The children’s father had been living with the Deportation Order for over 5 years. As a result of his immigration status, he was unable to work, he had to relinquish his driving license, he could not access welfare benefits or secure housing. These factors were impacting his parenting capacity, but despite these barriers he was able to travel between the two sets of children, provide them with attuned care, and facilitate the half-siblings to have a meaningful relationship.

To complete the assessment the social worker observed the youngest child in the context of their family. The older children had the opportunity to share their views about the possibility of their father being deported. The children also spoke about their significant worries related to the health and wellbeing of another family member.

The social worker identified that the two older children had needs as ‘Young Carers’ and that their relationship with their father was a significant mitigating factor against the risks associated their unavoidable, difficult family circumstances and status as ‘Young Carers.’ The social worker found that that the father played a vital role in all three of the children’s lives and that the loss of this relationship would be emotionally harmful.

The Independent Social Work Report centred the children’s experiences and ensured that they were seen and heard by the decision-maker. The judge gave careful consideration to the evidence provided by SWWB and identified that it was credible and of significant utility in the decision-making process.

Subsequently, the Deportation Order was revoked, and the children are no longer at risk of losing their father.

The judge’s comments on SWWB’s evidence:

I have considered her report and her responses to questions in oral evidence. I find that she does have relevant expertise to comment upon the relationship between the Appellant and his children and relevant expertise in eliciting the needs and wishes of the children. She is a qualified social worker… I was content that she fully understood her duties to the court... I found Ms J to be a balanced and fair witness. She understood her duties to the court and sets out clearly in her report factors which she cannot comment upon…I accept her evidence that the Appellant had a good relationship with his children and that he had been a significant source of emotional support… In her report, she notes (and I accept) that the boys were relaxed and comfortable with the Appellant, that there was reciprocal affection between them and that the boys had regular overnight contact. She noted that the Appellant would encourage the children with their interests and hobbies and had engaged with them creatively to support their selfconfidence. I place significant weight upon her evidence, which I find creates a picture of a parental figure, who is actively involved in his children’s lives to their significant benefit. I also find and accept that previous separation from their father (when he was in custody) had a clear detrimental impact on the boys’ wellbeing. I have come to this conclusion after considering all the evidence, but having placed significant weight upon Ms J’s report…

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Case Study 2: Independent Social Work Report completed for an undocumented, homeless adult

Two social workers completed an Independent Social Work Report for a man who had multiple complex needs. He had been living in the UK as an undocumented migrant, and for over 10 years he had been street homeless. As a result of not having any legal status to be in the UK he was subject to the No Recourse to Public Funds condition, this meant he was unable to access housing, welfare benefits, had limited access to healthcare, and was unable to seek employment.

The man had a traumatic childhood. He was socially isolated and had been rejected by his family because of prejudice about his sexuality. He had a history of acute mental health difficulties and alcohol dependency; in addition, he had a significant sight impairment. Due to his marginalisation, he was at risk of exploitation.

The social workers completed a report that made clear how the accumulation of all of these factors placed the man at significant risk and advised that it was essential that he remain in the UK where he was able to access the support and services that were vital for his health, wellbeing and safety.

Feedback from the solicitor:

"... application for leave outside the rules on medical grounds (Art 3&8 ECHR) was successful for a client that SWWB provided an ISWR.

The client has been granted leave to remain with access to public funds. The SWWB assessment was instrumental evidence in this application...

...The client suffers from multiple serious mental and physical health conditions, as well as being registered blind. He has been in the UK for nearly 17 years without status and is long term homeless. The difference this grant will make to his security and quality of life is massive."

The Home Office accepted the man’s application, citing his medical condition and need for treatment in the UK. He was granted a period of leave outside the rules on an exceptional basis.

In addition to securing his immigration status he had the No Recourse to Public Funds condition lifted. This meant he would be able to access services and he would no longer be homeless and destitute.

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Education

Social work education is key to making positive changes to the social work profession. Our teaching raises awareness of the intersection between social care and immigration policy and promotes best social work practice and a rightsbased approach to practice with people with insecure immigration status. Through radical education we are able to influence individual practitioners and in-turn, enable them to disseminate the learning, so that together, we can create a culture shift across the profession.

We delivered education to 625 participants, a figure that is relatively stable to the previous year. In addition to teaching university students, we developed and delivered two specialist lectures that took a deeper dive into specific areas of social work practice with people with insecure immigration status and we presented on a panel of experts.

Workshop/lecture/panelparticipation Number of attendees
StirlingUniversity 25
Universityof Gloucestershire 52
Manchester Metropolitan University – social
work MA and BA(2 teachingengagements)		 140 (a12pprox.)
Hertfordshire CountyCouncil Festival of Practice 78
DoughtyStreet Chambers18 30
Universityof Derbyshire 30
Manchester Metropolitan University – Health
and Social Care		 12
Social Work England ‘World Social Work Week
2022’19		 163
SWWB/PAFRAS online trainingevent 95
Total 625

Raising our profile as experts: putting Best Interest Assessment on the map

We were delighted to be invited by Doughty Street Chambers[20] to join a panel of experts to deliver a seminar for lawyers. Our input into this seminar gave lawyers insight into instructing social workers to complete Best Interest Assessments for children when they have a parent who is facing extradition. We consider this to be an indicator that Social Workers Without Borders is recognised as having a unique expertise in this area of practice. Furthermore, social work evidence, which can provide Best Interest analysis and recommendations, is increasingly sought as a means of foregrounding the rights and needs of children, and adults with complex needs.

Collaboration: education as a tool of social movements

As members of the Solidarity Knows No Borders (SKNB)[21] community we have been active in the Political Education group. Social workers were identified by the SKNB community as being a group who have power to impact the quality of people’s lives, and who need education about immigration policy to improve the support they provide. The political education group recognises that social workers face complex ethical challenges in statutory practice, whilst having the potential to be allies and agents of change. From the outset, we have sought to recognise the challenges that social workers face, and offer them a space of solidarity and community, so as they are empowered to join the movement

18 ‘Maternal Imprisonment Across Borders’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3SdUxDT2pQ

19 Social Workers Without Borders | Social Work Week 2022 - YouTube

20 Doughty Street Chambers is an internationally renowned chambers, which employs some of the UK’s leading barristers. https://www. doughtystreet .co.uk

21 https://firmcharter.org.uk/ Solidarity Knows No Borders (SKNB) is a community of migrant organisations, groups, and individuals, working in solidarity, to end hostility and racism against migrants and refugees.

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for migrant justice. This has involved delivering online training, providing social workers with resources, and offering peer support through regular online meetings. As a part of this community, we have been able to collaborate with other organisations, drawing on their different experiences and knowledge to enhance the training we provide to social workers and social work students.

We linked up with Migrants Organise[22] to develop a lecture about social work with adults who have insecure immigration status and have complex care needs. This teaching resource focussed on resolving immigration status for adults with mental capacity impairment and on Care Act assessment for adults with no recourse to public funds. We delivered the training to 78 social care professionals working for Hertfordshire County Council.

We worked with PAFRAS[23] to create a lecture that focussed on safeguarding children and young people in the context of current immigration policies. The training was delivered online and aimed at social care staff, including social workers, personal advisors, independent reviewing officers and foster carers. Young people from PAFRAS’ ‘Young Migrants Matter’ project provided voice recordings that centred their experience and expertise within the training, and they reviewed the presentation slides to ensure the teaching materials were a relevant and robust teaching resources from the point of view of young people with lived experience of the hostile environment.

Feedback about ‘Protecting young people and children seeking asylum in a hostile environment’ training:

95 people attended the online teaching session and afterwards 17 people completed the online feedback form. All of these people were social care professionals or social work students, so this is a strong indicator that we reached our target audience. 12 of the respondents identified that they work with unaccompanied children and that the training was beneficial to their practice. We asked attendees:

‘How has this training impacted your future work?’ The feedback was really positive, with all attendees having gained knowledge, with a strong focus on the lived experiences of young people, useful resources, and improved practice. The themes of what attendees took from the session can be summarised in this word cloud.

Any additional thoughts or comments? Respondents were thankful for the provision and generally positive about the quality of the material. However, approximately a quarter said that there was too much information packed into the two-hour teaching session and shared that they would have liked longer to learn about the topic.

22 https://www.migrantsorganise.org/

23 https://pafras.org.uk/

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We will continue to work with the SKNB Political Education in the coming year. We have reflected on the feedback from the training we have already delivered and are moving forward with a plan to deliver a series of online teaching events which will be shorter and cover bitesize topics. We will continue to work with the network to build a community of social workers who are empowered through knowledge, using education as a tool of social change.

Campaigns

We have a core team of 4 volunteers who work with our Development Lead and a Trustee to deliver our campaigning objectives. The team takes an agile response to the changing policy context, supports the campaign working of other organisations, and continues to work on our longer-term plans for seeking changes to the way that children’s safeguarding and welfare needs are protected in immigration and asylum matters.

Research

Our Campaigns Team has partnered with the European Children’s Rights Unit at University of Liverpool to produce a piece of research about the experiences of children with a parent subject to a Deportation Order. A considerable proportion of the Independent Social Work Reports carried out by SWWB concern this cohort of children. We are focussing on deportation cases as a case study; if we can better understand how to protect and promote children’s rights in deportation cases it will deepen our understanding of how to enforce rights-related obligations in respect of all children subject to immigration and asylum law. Children in deportation cases face the most significant barriers to justice for the following reasons:

24 Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO) 2012. Only in exceptional cases, where funding is necessary to prevent is a breach of human rights, will legal aid potentially be available to claimants (s.10 LASPO).

25 Section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 places a duty on the Government to have regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in matters related to immigration, asylum and nationality.

26 Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998/European Convention on Human Rights protects your right to respect for your private life, your family life, your home and your correspondence. It is a qualified right, meaning a public authority can sometimes interfere with your right to respect for private and family life if it is to protect other people's rights or in the interest of the wider community.

27Section 32(5) of the UK Borders Act 2007 which: “mandates that, unless certain circumstances apply, the Home Secretary must make a deportation order against a “foreign criminal”, defined in the same Act as a person who has been convicted of an offence and sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment as a result. There are certain exceptions to this rule including if an individual has children and spousal ties in the UK or is socially and culturally integrated. The family life exception is subject to the ‘unduly harsh’ test (Section 117 (5) Immigration Act 2014), meaning that the exception will only apply if the appellant can evidence that it would ‘unduly harsh’ for the family to be separated, in some cases a further caveat of ‘very compelling’ circumstances must additionally be evidenced.

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Thanks to funding from The Network for Social Change, once the research is complete, we will produce a public report. The report will make recommendations about procedural changes that are needed to more robustly safeguard children in immigration decision-making.

Raising awareness: a social work perspective

During this period, we reviewed our social media strategy and as a result have initiated a small group of volunteers whose remit is to support our social media output. This work is supported by our Development Lead and a Trustee. This group meets once a week to schedule social media posts. Having this dedicated group has seen our social media output increase in volume and quality. Social media is an important way for us to share information and raise awareness. Our social media following tends to be social workers, social work students, and those with an interest in social care. We have used social media to share information about policy changes in relation to immigration and asylum matters in a manner that is accessible and useful for social care professionals. We have also been sharing resources that we believe support good social work practice using the hashtag #swwbresourcesharing.

Unaccompanied Children

During the 2021/2022 period the New Plan for Immigration has become the Nationality and Borders Bill. Dubbed the ‘Anti-refugee Bill’ it represents the latest incarnation of the ‘Hostile Environment’ approach to immigration policy. There are a raft of measures within the Bill that seek to make it nearly impossible for refugees to seek safety in the UK. The scope of the changes are broad and complex, as an organisation we made the strategical decision to focus our campaigning efforts on the changes to age assessment of unaccompanied children. We chose to focus on this because this aspect of the Bill has serious implications for the social work profession and we felt that as social workers we are a stakeholder, and we have the expertise to comment on this. We take this action to limit the harm done to the people we support, and to protect the integrity of the role of the social worker.

We are particularly concerned about the creation of the National Age Assessment Board (NAAB), as this is a body that will be staffed by social workers and sit within the remit of the Home Office. NAAB social workers will receive referrals from Local Authorities to complete age assessments for safeguarding purposes and the Home Office will be able to direct the NAAB social workers to complete age assessments for immigration purposes. The NAAB social workers will have the power to override a Local Authority social work decision about a person’s age. The NAAB social workers will not be the young person’s allocated social worker and the way the process is set up will not support trauma-informed, relationship-based practice. We are of the view that carrying-out age assessments for immigration purposes muddies the social work role.

Last year we raised our concern about Home Office’s approach to social work practice at Kent Intake Unit via a public letter and raising parliamentary questions through a Member of Parliament. Our concern is that the NAAB further embroils social workers in the kind of poor practice that was seen at Kent Intake Unit.

Our Development Lead has taken on the role of co-chairing the Age Assessment Subgroup of the Refugee and Migrant Children’s Consortium.[28] This has enabled SWWB to work with lots of the leading charities working with refugee and migrant children and families. We have worked with our RMCC colleagues to share information across the sector, prepare briefings, and respond to Government’s consultation on the statutory guidance for NAAB social workers.

In addition to our work responding to changes to the age assessment process, we have worked on other issues that relate to unaccompanied children, this includes:

28 http://refugeechildrensconsortium.org.uk/

29 - - Social work provision for asylum seeking children in hotels is insufficient, say charities Community Care Unaccompanied migrant children crisis risks overwhelming children’s services | Social Work Today

30 Placing unaccompanied children in hotels is a breach of their rights | Children England

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Evacuation of Afghanistan

In August 2021, British and American forces withdrew from Afghanistan, and left a situation in which people there were left in a chaotic and dangerous set of circumstances. As this was unfolding, one of the people we have formerly prepared an Independent Social Work Report for got in touch, although they had settled status in the UK they had returned to Afghanistan to try and help family members caught up in this humanitarian crisis. Subsequently they found themselves unable to access the UK Government’s evacuation response, one of our Trustees, Lynn King, worked tirelessly to contact officials at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and support him to seek safe passage out of Afghanistan. With his permission we shared videos documenting his experiences on social media and with press outlets, to raise awareness of the plight of people left to deal with the consequences of the withdrawal of occupying forces.

Following on from this, we were shocked and disappointed by the treatment of Afghan refugees here in the UK. We wrote a letter on behalf of the social work profession to several Government Ministers raising our concerns about the inadequate treatment of Afghan asylum-seekers. This letter was supported by the British Association of Social Workers,[34] the Social Workers Union,[35] and Social Work Action Network.[36]

Structure, Governance and Management

Our Structure

Social Workers Without Borders is a Charitable Incorporated Institution, whose only voting members are its charity trustees. It has a ‘foundation model’ constitution dated 28 July 2017.

None of the trustees hold any property on behalf of the charity.

The trustees are ultimately responsible in law for the financial and strategic management of the charity. They are supported by the Development Lead. Trustees are expected to attend general meetings, all monthly Board Meetings and contribute purposefully to decision making. Policy decisions are made with the Development Lead. Our model of having a Trustee and the Development Lead in each of our working groups allows for decisions to be made collectively and for power to be delegated across our organisation. Trustees draw upon the expertise of our volunteers, whom are experienced practising or academic social workers. This enables them to further our objectives to promote excellent social work services and develop new models of social work best practice for social workers and others working with refugees, asylum seekers and migrants (our beneficiaries).

Four new trustees were recruited after the end on the financial year. increasing the size of our Board to eight. The appointments were made by the existing Board of Trustees following a skills audit. We circulated adverts on

31 https://www.daaroyouth.org.uk/news

32 https://gmiau.org/public-letter-asylum-delays/

33 https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/independent-review-of-childrens-social-care

34 https://www.basw.co.uk/

35 - https://swu union.org.uk/

36 - https://socialworkfuture.org/about us/

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https://www. charityjob .co.uk and https://reachvolunteering.org.uk/, within our networks, and on our social media platforms. The new appointments will strengthen our Board and broaden our expertise.

At SWWB, we work in subgroups that are comprised of a mixture of the different roles. The subgroups reflect the three main strands of our work. Each subgroup reports to the ‘whole team’ meeting and is responsible for delivering and developing our aims.

----- Start of picture text -----
2 Trustees
Development
Lead 1 Trustee
5 Case Development
Coordinators Lead 1 Trustee
(volunteers)
4 Volunteers Development
Network of
Lead
volunteer
2 Volunteer
social workers
and social
work students
to complete
assessments
Direct Work
Campaigns
Education
----- End of picture text -----

Our SWWB team, consisting of approximately 16 professional social workers, who give hundreds of hours to supervise our direct work, deliver training and raise public awareness. In addition to our core team, we have a national network of social workers and social work students who complete Independent Social Work Reports

Risk Management

Social Workers Without Borders understands the importance of recognising and managing risk. The Board of trustees has established a risk register which it maintains in order to identify, evaluate and manage risk. Any issues of concern are discussed at the monthly trustee meetings.

There are systems and procedures in place to mitigate the risks faced by the charity and these are reviewed periodically.

The trustees, volunteers and staff conducting social work assessments are all registered social workers and robust safeguarding and supervision procedures are in place. Our safeguarding policy is reviewed annually. Particular care is taken over confidential information and we use a secure database (Lamplight) for our client information. Volunteers are instructed to use this in line with our GDPR policy. Trustees, staff, and volunteers carrying out our social work assessments and training sessions are covered by our professional indemnity insurance. We also have public liability and employer’s liability insurance in place.

There are procedures in place for the authorisation of all financial transactions to minimise our internal risks. Our payroll is managed externally by a payroll provider. Following a recent review, the trustees have decided to appoint a professional bookkeeper.

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Trustees recognise that there is a significant risk to funding as we enter the final year of our current funding cycle. We are working on the development of a new strategic plan to allow for the diversification of income and ambitious plans for the growth of the charity. Trustees hope this will allow us to respond to the growing demand for our services and meet the needs of our beneficiaries in the current hostile immigration climate.

Our record with the Charity Commission can be found at www.charitycommission.gov.uk by searching on this site using our charity number 1174000.

Financial Review

We would like to thank the authors of ‘The Anti-Racist Social Worker’[37] for kindly donating the royalties from the book to SWWB.

Our funding year with Tudor Trust runs 1 May – 30[th] April. Payroll expenditure increased slightly from last year as it was our Development Lead’s first full year in employment, however salary costs remained unchanged.

We have managed to keep our operating costs low enabling us to spend our income directly on our charitable activities and delivering for our beneficiaries. At the end of the year, we had a small surplus of £3874. We also held £38,132 in unrestricted funds . Some of this money is designated for payroll costs and the launch of our public report in 2023 resulting from the research carried-out with the University of Liverpool. The remainder is held in reserves. 1 May 202230 April 2023 will be the final year of our funding cycle with Tudor Trust so trustees will need to take measures to diversify our income. The trustees are mindful of their responsibilities to pay staff. This makes up a large proportion of our expenditure. Given the uncertainty trustees have agreed to set aside reserves equating to approximately 6 months running costs in order that we can pay future salaries and keep our operations running until further funding is secured.

37 The Anti-Racist Social Worker, Tanya Moore and Glory Simango (Eds), Critical Publishing, 2021

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Trustees

Phillida Miles

Phillida has run a successful consultancy company for 18 years, and has experience of tendering and contracts, managing finances, and business sustainability.

As an independent social worker, her commissions have spanned organisational change, project management, interim management, service reviews, practice auditing and consultation processes. Phillida also designs and delivers a regular programme of training courses to health and social care staff. Additionally, she creates and facilitates team and business development events and is a qualified coach (ILM level 7 certificate in executive coaching and mentoring).

Phillida is a registered social worker with over 30 years’ experience in health and social care as a practitioner and manager. She has worked in a wide range of roles and services including mental health, residential care, community social work, a family centre, been an independent chair for child protection conferences and managed several adult social work teams.

Her connection with SWWB started in April 2016 when the founder members started volunteer work in Calais. This was driven by her concern for refugees particularly unaccompanied minors.

Lynn King

Lynn is one of the founders of Social Workers Without Borders. Lynn is a passionate and committed to working with those left vulnerable by borders and is driven by her conviction for humanitarian response to the crisis of displacement and border controls. Reading about the experience of women and children in Calais at the camp during 2016, motivated Lynn to take action, and mobilise other social workers. It was through the experiences and contacts made in the camp that the first Best Interest Assessments were created, working alongside Duncan Lewis Solicitors. This resulted in the completion of 40 Best Interest Assessments with social work volunteers from across the UK, to support children and young people to seek a safe environment.

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She is a qualified Social Worker and works in Local Authority social work, where she is a Practice Lead for Social Work with Older Adults. She is an experienced Best Interest Assessor, conducting mental capacity assessments and making best interest decisions to protect and empower people unable to do so themselves. Lynn is a qualified Practice Educator and Newly Qualified Social Worker Assessor, working with students, new social workers and developing social workers to embed evidence-based practice.

Lynn has made contribution to chapters in three social work books about social work practice with asylum-seekers, refugees, and migrants.

Dr Lauren Wroe

Lauren is an Assistant Professor (Research) in the Sociology Department at Durham University where she leads two research projects exploring international and social justice issues in child protection.

Lauren has a PhD from the University of Manchester where her thesis was a critical analysis of the language of refugee advocacy organisations and the impact of these discourses on self-narratives and the construction of social justice versus charity responses to asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants. Lauren’s research interests include international child protection and macro approaches to social work that account for, and address, structural determinants and constructions of individual and family problems. Lauren’s research is grounded in a commitment to a social justice approach from a feminist and anti-racist perspective.

Dr Bridget Ng’andu

Bridget has nearly 25 years of experience in social work practice and education. She has practised social work in a range of settings including in a primary school in Botswana, Southern Africa, and as a frontline Social Worker in Children and Families in the UK.

Bridget is currently a Senior Lecturer and Head of Social Work at the University of Kent. She is also Co-Chair of the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Staff Network at the University. Her research interest includes race and ethnic studies, anti-racist social work (including exploring the relevance of whiteness and privilege in social work education); decolonising social work education (promoting the inclusion of indigenous knowledge and research); radical social work practice and activism; migration, refugees and asylum seekers; and exploring social work practice in the voluntary sector.

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Her involvement with SWWB started in 2016, when she, started volunteering in Calais, to support children, young people, and adults in in the camp. Bridget was also involved in undertaking Best Interest Assessments in the camp to support unaccompanied minors and families applying for immigration status in the UK.

Molly Abraham

Appointed 16 May 2022

Molly is a UK registered social worker with experience in leaving care teams, working predominantly with separated children. She has worked in the forced migration field since 2010 and currently works as Head of Casework at CARAS, an organisation based in London working with people seeking asylum. Previously Molly has worked at a social work centre in Southern Morocco and has spent time volunteering in both Greece and Calais.

Erfan Alaei

Appointed 16 May 2022

Erfan is a UK registered social worker. While studying for his Bachelor of Social Work in Iran he voluntarily worked with refugees and people with disabilities there. Erfan holds a Masters in Human Resource Management from the University of Lancaster. He is currently working in recruitment and talent acquisition. Moreover, he is a person with lived experience of the UK’s asylum system and offers invaluable insight into the challenges facing people seeking safety in the UK. In response to his experiences of the ‘hostile environment’ policy context, Erfan is a political organiser and campaigner.

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Clare Cowie

Appointed 13 June 2022

Clare is a former city lawyer who worked on high value cross – border insolvency and restructuring cases for a top-tier law firm. She subsequently moved to the financial sector and gained international experience at a FTSE 100 firm where she worked on global fund launches and managed legal and regulatory risk on billions of dollars of assets under management. Clare is on the National Leadership Team for Citizens UK’s Settle our Status Campaign which is seeking a regularisation process for people with insecure immigration status. She delivers legal confidence sessions to members of the refugee community with Lawyers Against Poverty and recently contributed to Just Fair’s Civil Society Parallel Report of England & Wales for the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Jamie Bell

Appointed 21 October 2022

Jamie is a Solicitor in the Public Law and Immigration Department at Duncan Lewis Solicitors. Jamie brings extensive knowledge and skills in immigration and asylum law to the Board. He has significant experience in a wide variety of complex and high profile cases, including: litigation that has prevented the detention and removal of hundreds of Afghan nationals; extensive experience dealing with vulnerable clients, including those in detention, those suffering from complex psychological issues and victims of torture and trafficking; and giving advice and support to unaccompanied refugee children in their applications to come to the UK under the ‘Dubs Amendment’, playing a leading role in the second visit in organising the taking of instructions and liaising with social workers. Jamie is a Recommended Individual in the 2019, 2020 and 2021 editions of The Legal 500 for his work involving civil liberties and human rights. He was nominated for Public Lawyer of the Year at the LAYS in 2022.

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Staff

Development Lead, Naomi Jackson

Naomi is an experienced Social Worker with a base in statutory Child Protection along with a rich history of social work volunteerism and community activism. She has developed a social work specialism in working with people with insecure immigration status. Naomi has a particular professional interest in children’s rights in the context of immigration policy.

Naomi has developed our campaigning and policy strategy and delivered successful funding bids to further this work. Naomi has advanced our organisational profile by networking, developing partnerships, and collaborating with other likeminded organisations. Naomi leads our research project with the University of Liverpool.

Volunteer Coordinator

We have secured funding to employ another member of staff. The new member of staff will be responsible for coordinating our volunteers and providing administrative support. With this additional resource we will be able to focus on volunteer training and retention. This additional member of staff will also increase our Development Lead’s capacity. We are incredibly grateful to the Network for Social Change for funding this role.

Volunteers

Steering Group

The Steering Group consists of 11 social workers practitioners, all of whom have a specific interest and commitment to this area of work and are active volunteers in one of the strands of our work. Steering Group meetings are also attended by the trustees and the development lead.

Our dedicated volunteers give their time to further SWWB aims and objectives. The Steering Group give hundreds of hours of practical support across a range of tasks. This includes acting as a Case Coordinator to support volunteer

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social workers to complete assessments, delivering workshops and lectures, writing content for our newsletter, and managing our social media.

The Steering Group is made up of social workers who have extensive experience and expertise across all areas of statutory social care, and in specialist third sector organisations working with refugees, asylum-seekers, and migrants.

National Volunteer Network

All volunteers undertaking assessments must complete an SWWB agreement form, have a current DBS check and provide two references before commencing work with SWWB. There are always two practitioners for every assessment, the Lead Social Work Assessor must be a registered social work with Social Work England. The Second Social Work Assessor may be a social work student. The Assessing pair are supervised and supported by one of our Case Coordinators.

Reference and administrative details

Charity name: Social Workers Without Borders (not known by any other names)

Trustee Annual Report dates: 1st April 2021-31st March 2022

Registered Charity No: 1174000

Address: Unit 13249, PO BOX 6945, London, W1A 6US

Email: Trustees@socialworkerswithoutborders.org

Website: www.socialworkerswithoutborders.org

Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s)
Full name(s)
Position
Date		 Phillida Miles
Phillida Miles Clare Cowie
Trustee Trustee
18 January 2023
18 January 2023

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CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of SOCIAL WORKERS WITHOUT BORDERS On accounts for the year ended 31 March 2022 Charity no (If any) 1174000 Set out on page I report to Ihe trustees on my examination of the accounts of Ihe above charity 1.the Trust'l for the year ended 3110312022. Rosponslbilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Acl 2011 {"the Act"). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 14515llbl of the Act. I have compleled my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come lo my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause lo b81ieve that in. any material respect= accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or the accounls do nol accord with the accounting records Independent examinerfs statement I have no concems and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Signed: Date: 19 January 2023 Name: Chaweevan Williams FCCA Relevant professlonal qualification{sl or body Chartered Certified Accountants Address: Verdant Accountants Limited 20-22 Wenlock Road, London N17GU

SOCIAL WORKERS WITHOUT BORDERS 1174000

Charity Name

Receipts and payments accounts

Period start date Period end date To 01/04/2021 31/03/2022

For the period from 01/04/2021

Section A Receipts and payments

A1 Receipts Unrestricted
funds
to the nearest
£		 to the nearest £
Restricted
funds		 to the nearest £
Endowment
funds		 Total funds
to the nearest £		 Last year
to the nearest £
Donations
4,969 4,969 4,851
Grant - Network for Social Change - - 7,416
Grant- Tudor Trust - 47,667 47,667 49,667
Articles and authoringincome - - 477
Assessment Income 2,952 - - 2,952 2,252
Trainingincome 300 - - 300 420
Bank Interest 1 - - 1 0
- - - - -
Sub total(Gross income for AR) 8,222
 47,667 - 55,889 65,083
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
- - - -
- - - - -
Sub total - - - - -
Total receipts
A3 Payments
8,222 47,667 - 55,889 65,083
Stafng:
SalaryPayment - 37,363 37,363 25,096
Pension Contributons - 2,520 2,520 2,520
NI - Employers Contributon - 3,747 3,747 5,148
Staf Internet and Telephone - 220 220 200
Ofce Equipment - - 790
Staf Travel - - 58
**Stafng Total ** - 43,850 - 43,850 33,813
Running Costs Total:
Volunteer Expenses 633 633 181
Trustee Expenses 70 70 0
ICO registraton 35 35 40
CRB Checks - - 128
IT sofware, consumables,Website
&Zoom		 1,234 1,234 502
Database/Lamplight - - 449
Direct Support - - - - 185
Team meetngcatering& venue hire 998 998 0
Insurance 1,067 - - 1,067 1,066
Postage,Freight & Courier 55 55 0
Advertsing& Marketng 38 38 0
Accountancy & Examinaton fee 500 500 0
Bookkeeping& Payroll cost 423 423 0
Interpreter fees 112 - - 112 0
Trainingand development 3,000 3,000 0
**Running Costs Total ** 8,165 - - 8,165 2,551
- - - - -
Sub total 8,165 43,850 - 52,015 36,364
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total - - - - -
Total payments
Net of receipts/(payments)
A5 Transfers between funds
A6 Cash funds last year end
Cash funds this year end
8,165 43,850 - 52,015 36,364
57 3,817 - 3,874 28,719
- - - - -
38,075 - - 38,075 9,356
38,132 3,817 - 41,949 38,075

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period

Categories
B1 Cash funds
B2 Other monetary assets
B3 Investment assets
B5 Liabilities
B4 Assets retained for the
charity’s own use
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf
of all the trustees		 Details to nearest £
Unrestricted
funds		 to nearest £
Restricted
funds		 to nearest £
-
-
-
-
OK
to nearest £
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Endowment
funds
Endowment
funds
Current value
(optional)
Current value
(optional)
When due
(optional)
Date of
approval
Cash at banks 38,132 3,817 -
- - -
- - -
Details
Total cash funds
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))		 38,132 3,817 -
OK OK
to nearest £
Unrestricted
funds		 to nearest £
Restricted
funds
- - -
- - -
- - -
Details Fund to which
asset belongs		 Cost (optional)
- -
- -
- -
Details Fund to which
asset belongs		 Cost (optional)
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
Details Fund to which
liability relates		 Amount due
(optional)
Credit balance with HMRC to off set
against future liabilities.		 (3,340) -
-
-
-
-
Signature
Date of
approval
Clare Cowie

accounts (SS)

16/01/2023

2