Cbarlty Nunther 1183558 Southampton and Winchester VlsAtors Group Report and FillaBcial Statsments For the year ended 31st August 2024 Address Southampton and Wmch&8ter Visitors Group PO Box 1615. SouthamptOD S017 3WF eeko PatroDS Miriam MargoI￿s, OBE JOI￿ Pilkington Dr. Shirley Firih Trnstees Cbair. Mark Courtice (￿Ig[led 16 October 2024) Vice Chair. Cath￿ille Hartley Treasurer. David Robertson (apw)iDted 4 December 2023) C(H)rdin*or. Claudia Glyn Jeyatharslwi Vettivel Judith EvaDS (appoiDted 4 Decem￿ 2023) Katie Gearing (appointed 4 Decetnber 2023) Khalid Omer (appointed 4 D￿rnber 2023) Sue J&ssup (appointed 4 December 2023) Andrew Taylor (appointed 31 Match 2024) David Smith (resi￿)￿ 4 Decettther 2￿23} William Brook-Hart {resigned 4 December 2023) Paul Munns (resigned 2 September 2023) Secretary t£a Haye5 Admlnistrator Travid B4nker5 HSBC Bank Plc. 19 MiDster StseeL SaEisbw SPI ITE LudepeDdeDt Euminer Peter Casson FCA Southampton and Wmehester y￿AtorS Group The TrFJStcs prc5cat thcir rcpGrt aad'll￿ fillanci￿ stat¢Fneuts for the year ended 31 Augu512024. Fomalion The cR￿lty fornied as a Charitable IncryA*ed Organisalion to tske over the activities ond assets and liabilities of the unincorporated charAty of the sawe nam¢. It was ￿lS￿red with tbe Charity Cottunission on 29 May2019. Governallee ￿anageMellt The Trustee Board comwises a of 3 aud a maxim of12 meDAbers elthd at each Anllual General Meeting. Tntstees who held office during the year listed on page 2. The Board meets every six weeks and is Sup￿ted by a number of sub-comrnittees Mthich report to the Trustee& AEMS and objectives The nmin objects of the Group as set out in its constitution For the relief of nee& hardship attd distress in the United Kingdom an￿ngSt refiigee4 people seeking asylullk and other ]m￿L￿allts by providing such cFLarÈtable assistaoce as the Trustees tbiDk fiL illcluding providing such p￿500S with advi¢c. &8sistanc¢. ￿preSentatiOn. couL8ellin& in matteJE such as money, debts, welfaTe, ￿nefit4 housillg, healt￿ asyl￿ iu]miwt1o￿ educ*10￿ ttainlng and etnploJillenL Foeus of ollr work The Group is a volunts led charity whose mernbeTS work with people seeking asylum and r¢fiLgees mainly living in SouthamptoL Our work includes providing F￿glish and other teachin& and providing on¢-tO-one support for indAvidual pwple. who are assigned a Érdined visitor who meets with t1￿￿ re￿￿arlY to provide frffiendship and practical help. We supwt opproximatety 200 people in government accommodation. who are resident either in a Iwal hotel or in sharedhouse& We provide well-being support through social and cults￿al activities. We bave 8150 funded the provision of gym acces4 phone4 as well as laptops and data to some of the students. SWVG operates a weekly droTriJA centre at the Avenue Multicultural Centre (AMQ in Southampton United Refonn Church (URC),whicb it previousty rdn in conjunction with CLEAR and Avenue St Andrews URC. AMC 15 8 very popular droFin centr4 which ru￿9 every Friday morning for IIN)se seeking asylunL We staff a belp desk with a small number of eXp￿]enCed volunteers providing inf0m￿tion and signposting. We also woth in partheTship with SCRATCIL where a number of people vohmfrffj with New Forest National Part where we n]n visits in conjunction with the Tangets. attd with lobn Hansard Gallery. MAST Studios, Sea City Museum and Southampton City Libraries forour cultUTe PTojecL We also bave IxnlLq to Re￿ge¢ Action and Together with Rew and are membu5 of NACCOM and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Strategic Migration Gmup. Revlew of the year OUT core WOTL uatnely the pmvision of support to those secking asylum and newly given Leave To R¢Jnain continued. We have supported many young men placed in two hotels in Southajnpton (though one closed this year). The Horne Office Intr0th￿ rnonMlwllig io I￿15 so the ovoall numbers we support bave not fallen sigllificaDtIy. The drop-in c¢ntre at AMC continued in operatioll and welcom&s more than 150 people cach weeL SollLe 21k30 people per week access our help desks (many on a ryeat basis). teceiving a variety of suppo¢ illcludiug assistatLce with finding solicitors. During th¢ y¢•r the number of individual refuge¢5 and people seeking asylum we saw at the help desk was over 250. The drop-in at AMC had been under threat ffls the partneTS found it difficult to coatinue to manage it. SWVG Trustees took on sole T&Spo￿911)i1ity for it this yearand devised maDagement systems to ensure smooth rullnillg. A wider rdnge of partners ore welcomed to joill in on a regular basi4 including the City Liknry, the Med8ill¢ Thist supporting people who bave been trafficw and the R¢fiwe Employability Programll￿. As well as a specific help desk for accommodation rnatters and s¢hool placements. a fiJrtherd&8k is dedicated to managing the laptop scheme, gym memiwsbips and the bike sclKm4 at¥] anotber to finding volunts i)pportunities for those seelang asylunL Our management of AMC has enabled us to increase the involvernent of those seeking asylum and refugees in nll]ning the CentrL The team running the Friday morntt]g s￿￿OnS now include5 a large proportion of pcople with lived experiencq offering them a c1w￿e to volunteer. We have also introduced hot soup cooked by voluntsErs who are sceking asylunL The aumber of people seeking asylu￿ it) NASS aC￿MModatiOn wbo receive aDd individual 5UPPOrt from a Visitor Ims dropped over the year. to eÈghL after more people received positive decisions about their asylu laio)s. The help desk enables us to support greatcr numbers of people (many of whorn we see OD a regularb&4is). The Visitor relationship is now used for tI￿se with cOll￿le% need& However. a considmble nutnb¢r of people wbo Fe¢eived Leave To Remain still need support to transition into independeDce. Finding ac¢otDmodation is the most pressing problenL We cannot give prccise figures for t[￿se who received a positive decision over the year because we do not see all the residents ITh hotels and housGs but we estimate up to 30°h of our support 15 targeted at post Leave to Remain. We a separate help desk at the second hotel during tbe year until tbe end of March, when the botel was closed by th¢ Home Office al￿ its residents were moved to the remaining hotel or elsewhere in the county. Whilst we have seen some fast decisions. too maoy people still have to wait years to have tbeir asyllm GlaittL assessed. A lack of legal sllpt￿ is a key issuc nowadays. There ar¢ not enough itDmigration solicitors who work for Legal Aid and many people seekillg asylum now have to attelld their substsntive interview or even an appeaI bearsng wkthout prior discussion with a solicitor. It is increasingly dlffictht forthose a¢¢ommodated in hotels vAwe slwing rooms is the notm nowadays. which inevitably leads to a rise irA mental health i5su&8 and ocrAsiollally aggressive behaviour, because there are not ¢nou£b support facilitie& We have act&vely IxeD involved Ao arranging aod TrEllI￿RY attending a group including Migrant Help. tbe local authority, the Policc and the Home Office to support Cleawrings a￿d the residents to rrtonitor the problems. Engltsh tegchin Around 70 studcnts are curreDdy receivtng English lewn& either ¢)ne-tO-one or in a small group. though th¢ numbeTS fluctuate across the year due to frequent movement io and out ofthe hotel. Over 120 more have attended lessons during the past year. induding from the hotel that dosd ID Febnwy. About 36 teachers gre CUT¥ently aching at least one studenL We nm 2 ¢oJJversation groups {one in partnersknp with Sotsthwton Libr8ry).This can involve up to 30 people h weeL We have had donations of text booL8 and exercise book& and have pwchased more when necessary. Data and IT We have continue¢ on a stnaller scale tban before. with the schetne to lend laptops to people learning EnglLSty alld to provide 22 people (curTelltly dowll to three) with mobile datapackages for online learniD& A llcw initiative has supported people to buy their own laptop by n)akiog a regular contnl)ution to pay off the cost of the machine. Our IT and data schemes have also benefited bousetnates including family Jnernbe￿. Volunteers And eontro¢tsd staff We curreutiy have around 100 active Voluntee￿ and coolinue to receive applications frojll potential volunteers. Our training activity bas now been refreshed and is c3ffied out ill pets0￿ The Trnstees have been grateful to note that the volunteer group now includes people with l?ved experience of the &sylllm systefft. Our two part time cont[￿d staff continue to PTovide essential support services. Ca￿paIgnIng The Campaigning Group supports Dational campaigtL8 that call for a lllunane asylum system and we oppos¢ policies wbi¢h persecute people who claim asyhjm. We encourage members to Taise the issues with their MPS and local councils aud we speak at local groups and fonm)s. We think ivs important for politicians to taIk to people who have lived experie1￿ of asylum. Refi￿Ce Week in June is a special time lo celebrate the culturts and capabilities that refugees and other people who have sougbt sallctuary bring to our Iwal con]munities. Togetherwith many local organisalion5 and con]munity group& we organised a seri&s of events tncluding dram￿ film4 music, dance, a sta]1, artwork and a parade in the centre of Soutlwllpto￿ This improves the IiDks betweell ll)aDy local culturnl groups who came to showcase their positive con1n￿lltioDS to the city. We are gtateful for the support of Soutbampton City CoutLciL Gol Southampion representing the buslness conmnunity and City of S8n¢tsiary Southampton. We are also most g￿te￿I to those people with lived experieuce who gave radio alld TV intwviews. In pTepardtioffj we involved 8 local s¢hools with upwar