Education
Here you will find information to support you in delivering education to people seeking asylum
Contents
Education Funding
There is no designated funding for children claiming asylum support, but children are in the eligibility criteria for benefits such as early years entitlements (www.gov.uk), free school meals (www.gov.uk) and pupil premium (www.gov.uk).
The situation is more complex for Further Education settings. People may have to had to be in the UK for 6 months or they can be subject to finding alternative funding for courses, but you can find further information on the Refugee Education UK website. People may also be subject to a ‘no study’ condition on their Bail 201 paperwork. This condition should not apply to anyone under 18 years of age, but you can read more about immigration bail and study with the NRPF Network.
Asylum Support
People seeking asylum face challenging circumstances. If they’re claiming asylum support then their accommodation is on a ‘no-choice’ basis, so people often move from temporary settings and become open to children missing education teams.
It can be hard to determine a new address for a child so a referral can be made to another local education authority, and people often meet barriers when requesting information from the accommodation provider. We continue to advocate for improved data sharing to allow Councils to meet their statutory obligations, but you can escalate any cases of concern to Serco in the first instance. If you don’t have a contact for your local Serco Partnership Manager, you can email [email protected] to contact their team.
If a chid is moved out of your area to dispersed accommodation, Serco will need to complete two inductions with the family. The second induction needs to take place within 7 calendar days of arrival and should include ‘information to assist the Service User to register their children (where applicable) with appropriate schools in the area’.
Support Groups
If a family you are working with require additional support, you can find a service to support them using our search tool.