‘We just didn’t use it’

A study by the Royal Geographic Society identifies five key reasons people aren’t online; lack of skills, suspicions around the morality and safety of being online, a lack of motivation, access barriers including poor connection or disabilities and it just being too expensive.

For housing associations pushing to get tenants online some are easier to address than others. Free IT classes are widely available to address skills barriers, low cost broadband packages and WiFi can be fairly easily provided and putting PCs in public area improves access for those who can’t afford their own kit or connection.

However with a lack of motivation none of this will be effective. In response to a discussion on mobile internet my Great Aunt suggested ‘It’s always been there, in the air, but we just didn’t use it’ and this echoes the situation for most of our digitally excluded customers.

Better than nothing

At the end of September the Refugee Welcome Trust finished the end of it's fifth 'official' year. With a fancy new name; 'Together Now', we're come a long way since we started in July 2010.

Since then we've brought over 53 people travelling on family reunion visas to be with their loved ones who are refugees living in the UK.

That includes 40 children who now have safer more secure futures with their parents. 

We now know that you can bring salted fish with you to the UK in certain conditions and limited amounts, that if you really need one you can find a Tamil speaking taxi driver at Heathrow and that when a family is on their last chance of being together they become capable of pretty much anything asked of them.

Angry tweeting

This weekend I wrote what I think was my first negative tweet going against my own advice of ‘if you can’t say anything nice on social media don’t say anything.’  I’d spent the weekend standing in the foyer of Morrisons with a bucket collecting for the Refugee Welcome Trust. For those that haven’t ever done this it is hard work. Physically standing for six hours carrying a bucket of coins makes everywhere hurt, add to that being ignored by 70% of people that walk past and the boredom of being in a supermarket for three days in a row.

The store I go to is in a little Lancashire town which has a massive sense of community. Staff turnover seems low and they are friendly helpful to the customers, a young man collecting baskets knows an elderly customer by name and is concerned when she waits over 40 minutes in the hot foyer for a taxi and seems confused. She tells me she always has the same driver who helps her lock up and carry her shopping and is visibly pleased to see him when he arrives. He is very attentive, checking she’s OK with the heat and giving her his arm  to walk to the car. Morrisons' staff come to check she’s gone a few minutes later.

There must be some research around collecting like this. You can tell, with a  reasonable amount of accuracy, whether people passing you on the way in will donate or not on their return. Some are surprising groups, teenage boys in my experience are much more likely to donate than girls, people who look like they have less to give more likely than those who appear to have more. A distinct group peer at the bucket. At first I thought they were looking for a particular cause or charity and maybe some are. Being such a small organisation the majority won’t recognise our name and some people, it appears are filtering out rather than in. One lady tells me she was just checking I wasn’t from an animal charity and one that I wasn’t from a hospice. Quite a few people ask what we do and this is sometimes where the trouble begins.

I am the first to be picky about what I give money to. In times where people have less to give where it goes becomes so much more important and when I say ‘Refugee families’ in response to their question many say they prefer to give to ‘local people.’ Most people ask more questions about where they’ve come from and why they’re here and this is partly what makes standing here worthwhile. There are a small minority that look at me with complete disgust like I’m suggesting they give money to help murder puppies. For a large part these are respectable looking older ladies and I continue to be shocked at how rude they can be to a stranger. But the tweet was not aimed at them, they’ve aired their feelings and its their decision who to give to.

My first bad encounter was with a man who unfortunately for him was shorter than me. When he asked the standard ‘What is it this time?’ I responded with ‘Refugee families.’ ‘Why don’t they just stay where they are?’ he asked. A perfectly reasonable question. Apart from the fact he was standing way to close for comfort and shouting at me. If the store hadn’t been busy and the staff so attentive this could have been quite scary. Next time a man who was a lot bigger than I was leaned over my and shouted ‘Pakis?!’ in response. Not really sure how to respond there was an awkward silence with him staring at me until I nodded and he backed down.

I chose to end my angry tweet with the #idiot which I’ve never used before and won’t use again. This is not particularly because of people thinking it’s OK to be aggressive and intimidating but more the fact that both of these people donated money. Over a pound each. Didn’t see that one coming.

Benefits sanctions will hit most vulnerable non English speakers the hardest

George Osborne’s proposals to sanction benefits for those who are claiming Jobseekers Allowance and refuse to attend mandated English language courses will be destructive to our client’s attempts to make a new life for themselves and their families in the UK.

Families entering the UK under family reunion policy are arriving after one or more member has suffered persecution. Parents have been separated from children for years at a time when they most need each other’s support.

Placing more conditions on entitlement to Jobseekers allowance will push even more newly arrived families further into poverty. Negotiating the complexities of benefit entitlement already means that some families are living off a single person’s benefits for weeks after they arrive.

Those arriving under family reunion have already suffered and their arrival in the UK should be an opportunity for them to recover. Mandatory English courses would place unneccessary strain on families at a time when they’re least able to cope.

Contrary to popular belief refugees coming to the UK want to work. Many are surprised that they receive benefits and some do voluntary work to help themselves feel more comfortable about taking the handouts.

Noone is denying that learning English will be instrumental in enabling refugees find paid employment but if Osborne wants people to get themselves into work maybe he should make it look at the difficulties already faced by so many in trying to access ESOL courses. Those seeking asylum have to wait 6 months before becoming eligible for only funding for half the costs, a spouse who’s partner is working has to wait a year before becoming eligible for co-funding..

Sanctioning benefits based on English course attendance won’t force people with poor English skills into work it will push them further into isolation and hamper their efforts to integrate into their new community. 

From the Refugee Welcome Trust blog: www.refugeefamilyreunion.blogspot.com 

www.refugeewelcometrust.org

Planes, trucks, jeeps and boats

Off to Boracay for our mid tour ‘break’. Billed as paradise the reality was a long drive to the airport, an hour on the plane, an hour and a half driving and a boat ride to reach the island. This was followed by a cosy drive in a small van type minibus and a walk to the hotel. If you Google Boracay you’ll see what we were expecting and in reality the stunning scenery is set off by a strip of shops (including Starbucks and McDonalds) and music blaring from stalls along the front.

Children begging along the front remind you that you are still in a third world country and add that element of guilt at how privileged we are generally and to be here and treated so well by our hosts.

As with many of the things we do here there was a cloud of mystery around the plane / check in / airport protocol. The first checkpoint made sure you weren’t bringing guns into the airport. At check in it was decided we would not check bags and have two as hand luggage. A quick boarding pass check and we were in security. Where aerosols and liquids over 100ml were not allowed. Unless you had two aerosols in which case only one was confiscated or if you pleaded your case for being able to take shower gel and sun cream in which case you were told it wouldn’t be allowed next time.

I think we were all relieved at the plane being to quote the Aussie team ‘a proper size’ having heard some rumours about their airlines and talk of a ‘small plane’.

Who defines 'good' customer service?

Our charity clients are some of the strongest people I've met. How they manage to persevere through the bureaucratic nightmare that is seeking asylum, deal with what has happened to them in their home country and then battle through applications through family reunion visas is beyond me.

In theory our part in the process is the easy one. Once all the hard fought for documents are in place we simply book the flights and they travel to be reunited as a family.

We don't provide emotional support (we are neither trained or experienced in this area) but from our communication with clients we understand how the flight is the pinnacle of what, for some, amounts to years of separation.

Imagine then that you have come to the airport. You are scared of authority in a country where you do not feel safe. You have been through years of trauma. You have a small child with you and are leaving behind another who, having turned 18, does not meet the criteria to travel to the UK.*

It is late at night. The check in staff refuse to accept the travel visa you have spent so long jumping through hoops to acquire. They tell you to go back to the issuing embassy and sort it out but you cannot travel tonight.

If this was you or me we'd make a fuss. We'd be confident in our documents and in our rights as their customer. We'd be asking to see a manager, for them to phone head office, making something happen. How many times will this be all that's needed to resolve the situation?

But if you're scared and worn down and unable to properly communicate you can't do this.  Should the airline staff recognise this and make sure they've tried all the channels that they would have done if the customer had made a fuss?

For example look at this story in Inside Housing about asylum seekers who are scared to complain about sub standard housing in case they are deported.

Is it our responsibility as a customer to make sure we get the level of service we expect? In some cases, such as our clients, expectations will be that the situation will go against them as it has done so many times before. For us, and especially those who care about delivering high levels of customer service, we will expect and demand much more.

Having previously worked with wealthy customers who felt entitled to the world I have been used to meeting and aiming to exceed these demands and expectations. It is a concern that when customers are less confident and empowered might be settling for second best as companies lower their standards to meet expectations.

It is important that when we're considering how we provide customer service we not only meet our customers expectations but look at what we'd expect in their position.

* All case studies referenced from any clients, of Bolton at Home or the Refugee Welcome Trust are amended to be representative of the situation but not true to any one case or client. Details are either general descriptions or an amalgamation of different client's stories.

About the charity

People usually ask me why I felt I had to set up a charity and I have to say it seemed like the only option at the time. I had some involvement with refugee organisations in Manchester, heard about some people that needed family reunion funding and that the Red Cross programme had closed (this has since reopened).

Working at the time with property investors who were buying apartments like they were handbags it seemed sensible to see if I could get some of the refugees looking for funding some of the money that was being waved around in the office.

However nothing is that easy and once the ball got rolling setting up a charity was the only way to get the money and once you've set it up and a few people have got in touch, you've been over awed and inspired by other people in the sector and the help they're willing to give you, you've seen the need.... you're kind of committed.

Originally the idea was we'd give grants to families looking for family reunion and we still do this. When an asylum seeker is granted refugee status their dependent pre flight family are eligible for visas to come and join them. Although this sounds simple written down this visa application can be expensive (legal fees and documents - the visa application is free) and can see delay after delay for documents to be found, applied for, DNA tests to be carried out and any obstacle you can think of coming up.

At the end of this people are left with a visa and a family overseas. The cost of bringing a family over depends on many factors, the country of origin, whether children are accompanied and the number of people. For some it can be well into the thousands and for most even a couple of hundred means months of saving their already stretched income.

We are able to take cases, on a one by one basis, and cover the travel expenses for the family. This means families can be reunited faster and the healing process can begin.

About this time last year we launched a travel service to those who are able to fund their own travel. This allows them to use our booking service, contacts and discounts and we charge a small fee (as a percentage of any savings they make on the flights) to go towards our main grant fund. Although it started slowly cases going through the service are beginning to come in and we hope this will continue to be useful to people looking for family reunion.

Getting started...

Not particularly sure where I'm going with this blog but as I spend my days pestering the staff at Bolton at Home to write articles for the corporate blog I thought I should give it a shot.

Colleagues objections range from 'I don't know how to write' to 'How will I find the time?' and I agree with both sentiments with the additional concern that nothing I do is of any interest to anyone. However I have decided to carry on regardless.

So... a bit about me.

I really enjoy the work I do for my day job. Looking at everything digital from social media to intranet and a lot more besides for a housing association based in a small Lancashire town I get to meet staff in roles around the organisation and, when I'm out and about, our customers.

It never ceases to amaze me how much is going on in the communities we work with and I'm always on a mission to get our activities out in the public domain, partly to showcase the work of the organisation but mostly to tell the outside world about the brilliant people living and working in our neighbourhoods.

I will admit that my career background hadn't really prepared me for life in the private sector but would hope that after 10 months 'adjustment' I'm getting better at working within a public sector environment. I think my colleagues would be better placed to say how this was going though!

In my spare time I run a charity supporting refugees with family reunion. Having set it up just over two years ago I'm not sure I'd completely recommend this as a relaxing hobby. At the beginning of our third year we're struggling to meet demand for our services and are still making only a tiny dent in the sector but will be persevering on a case by case basis.

For anyone out there thinking this all sounds massively rewarding I will advise you that I've learnt that charity management is 98% fruitless fundraising and turning people away and 1% small successes and 1% incredibly rewarding case work.

So I would think I'll be writing about all these things and probably just whatever comes into my head... Not sure how its going to go.