The Councillors Migrant Champions Network has put together a briefing and other resources for local authorities on the crisis unfolding in Sudan

What is happening?

War has broken out in Sudan, and conditions there are reported to be terrible.  There is a large Sudanese population in the UK (one estimate in 2020 was 24,000 Sudanese citizens in the UK but community sources reckon there are at least double that), and many British citizens of Sudanese origin, or with family in Sudan.  The government offered evacuation flights for the estimated 4,000 UK citizens in Sudan, 2,000 registered for them, but no more are currently planned.  They were only available to British citizens and any of their family members who had leave to remain in the UK, plus parents caring for British children, although the last flight was also belatedly opened to Sudanese NHS doctors (there are many Sudanese working in the NHS: the first two doctors to die from frontline exposure to Covid were Sudanese).

The UNHCR is planning on the basis that 800,000 people may flee from Sudan to neighbouring countries.  Hundreds have already been killed, and flight is difficult and dangerous.  Those who are able to leave who have connections with the UK are likely to try to make their way here, as has already happened: in most years there are about 2,000 asylum applications from Sudanese nationals. 

The government has indicated it may organise further flights, and there is growing pressure for those to include a wider selection of family members of Sudanese settled in the UK as well as British citizens still stranded there.  So, more evacuees may arrive.

Sudanese people in the UK

Most areas have an established Sudanese community, with larger numbers in London (particularly north and west), the south-east (Brighton and Kent especially), Bradford, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle and the north-east.  There are Sudanese communities in Scotland and Wales as well.  There are many flourishing and well organised Sudanese community groups, ranging from small local meetings to national associations of professionals like doctors and lawyers.  There are also many asylum seekers stuck in the system backlog, most in hotels and temporary accommodation: in most years Sudan is one of the top ten countries of origin of people applying for asylum, and these applications are very likely to succeed as over 80% of them do. 

What are the problems?

1. Concern for family members and others in Sudan

The evacuation has been chaotic, and many people did not “qualify” or could not get on the planes. UNHCR says there is a catastrophic humanitarian situation in Sudan and neighbouring countries.  Their relatives and friends in the UK are understandably very worried for them.  Some are trying to arrange travel to safety, lobbying MPs, asking about visas, pushing for more and wider evacuation programmes. 

• Uncertainty for asylum seekers and others on limited leave in the UK

Although Sudanese are not among the 12,000 asylum seekers who have been sent a questionnaire with a view to clearing the asylum backlog, there are several thousand Sudanese in the asylum backlog, waiting for a decision (which is likely to be positive as 84% of them are).  Others are in the UK as students, on work permits or visiting.  They clearly cannot return home currently, but meanwhile face huge uncertainty, and may also be unable to work and potentially facing destitution.

• Arrival of traumatised and vulnerable people

People have left a chaotic and dangerous war situation, and some have been forced to leave family behind.  Some may be injured; most are likely to have some level of trauma.  There are no proper reception or assessment arrangements.  Councils have been told:

“Welcome Points at ports of entry are providing some immediate support, e.g., the opportunity to rest, welfare or health checks, and advice about onward travel. Onward rail transport from arrival airports will be free to those who do not have funds for travel. In some cases, immediate overnight accommodation is being provided – e.g., where a flight has arrived late.

 In order to manage the pressures at the ports of entry, we are encouraging people to move on quickly. In cases where people do not have accommodation arrangements, they are being encouraged to travel to where they have existing connections in the UK and seek to make arrangements with family and friends where possible. Where this is not possible, councils may start to receive homelessness applications and other requests for assistance from households returning from Sudan.“

• Difficulties with accessing services

Those dealing with physical and psychological trauma will obviously need specialist help, and health services are not geared up for this.  While most local authorities now have specialist teams helping Syrians, Afghans and Ukrainians, some funded specifically for this by central government, this is a new group with different needs and also different statuses.    Some benefits and housing services are only available to those who are eligible, and British citizens and some others must pass or be exempted from the habitual residence test to access them.  Unlike some previous evacuations of British citizens, the government have not yet exempted them from the habitual residence test although they “will do this at the earliest opportunity”. 

What can councils do?

1. Make contact with local Sudanese community and groups

Local groups may know of new arrivals who need services, and may also be willing to offer information about expected arrivals to assist with planning.  They may also be able to offer help with translating, contact with Sudanese professionals for advice and expert knowledge and informal but vital interpersonal support.

Not all Sudanese are involved with community organisations, and it is important to reach out to those who are not, especially asylum seekers in hotels who are already facing many problems and will now be worrying about family members and friends in Sudan as well as the progress of their asylum applications.

Some of those evacuated will stay with family members or friends, at least initially, and some may already have homes in the UK, and so not approach local councils for help.  However, their circumstances may have changed significantly.  Apart from their own physical and psychological state, which may need attention, they may now be living in overcrowded conditions, or dealing with complex family issues and concerns.  They may have significant financial pressures from the need to support family or get them out.  Consultation and contact with community groups and individuals can alert the council to these and also provide guidance about how best to ensure that they know what is on offer to help. 

• Brief all frontline staff

Community groups may be able to assist with this.  Staff need to understand the background to new requests for help and the pathways to appropriate services.  Ideally this should be done with local partners, particularly health, education and the voluntary and community sector.

Human resources staff should also be briefed since Sudanese council employees may be under enormous stress and may face specific difficulties.  Councils should check that employee assistance programmes know about the situations they may be facing and have appropriate referral resources available. 

• Ensure that new arrivals have a proper referral pathway to services they need

Services will include housing, social services, welfare benefits/cost of living support, education, health. The current teams working with Syrians/Afghans/Ukrainians are likely to have all the relevant information at hand and be the best to coordinate this. 

There are, as noted above, many Sudanese professionals working in the NHS and other services: many of them offered advice about their community and organised access during the pandemic.  Councils should consider liaising with Sudanese professional associations and relevant health and care services to release some, especially those specialising in mental health, children’s services and other relevant areas, to work with traumatised newcomers and those in the settled communities finding it difficult to cope. 

All new arrivals should be signposted to education, health, social services and cost of living support as appropriate, but there may be an issue with eligibility for some housing and benefits services.

British citizens must pass the habitual residence test to get housing and homelessness services and universal credit and some other benefits. The government may exempt them soon, but in the meantime, any British citizens who have not lived in the UK (and common travel area) as adults before arrival will fail the test.  Some who have spent significant time outside the UK before arrival may face problems and may need specialist benefits or housing advice.  They should be referred to social services for accommodation and support if there are any children or adults with care needs in the household.  The NRPF Network https://www.nrpfnetwork.org.uk/ provides guidance and resources on this. 

Non-British citizens will only be eligible for benefits and housing if they have certain types of immigration status or rights to reside.  The www.housing-rights.info website provides information on this.  Many families will include people with different citizenships and status. 

Asylum seekers are supported by the Home Office, but if they get full refugee status via the backlog clearance programme will then be eligible for housing and benefits.  If they applied for asylum after 28^th June 2022, they may be classed as a “group 2” refugee which means they may be barred from access to benefits and housing.  There is guidance on this on the NRPF Network website.

One service that may prove more difficult is the need for legal advice and help: unless and until we get new schemes to allow Sudanese to come to the UK, family and friends here will need to get legal advice and advocacy to see how they can get people to safety.  Currently there is no legal aid for most non asylum immigration cases or for advice and help for people outside the UK, other than in exceptional cases. 

• Lobby government

The evacuation of citizens from Sudan has been hasty and is incomplete.  However, there are also already many Sudanese citizens in the UK facing an uncertain future and extreme concern for those left behind as the humanitarian crisis unfolds.  Local councils are already very hard pressed and need support and action from government to enable them to work with their residents.  Council leaders and local authority associations should lobby government for

• Sudan schemes to mirror the Ukraine schemes: the UK’s links with Sudan are at least as close and longstanding as with Ukraine.  We need to have the same schemes, all of which offer three years leave with access to work, benefits and housing:
  • A Sudan family scheme to allow those settled here to bring the same wider family members to join them here as we have encouraged Ukrainians to do, including particularly the elderly and vulnerable.  We have seen the disgraceful scenes of grandparents turned away in their wheelchairs, and we do not want our residents to go through this anguish.
  • A Sudan extension scheme to cover all Sudanese nationals currently in the UK with no long-term leave.  This would, of course, assist with the asylum backlog clearance, but would also cover students and others on temporary stays or with no leave.  Since they clearly cannot return to Sudan, this will clarify their status as quickly and easily as possible.
  • A Homes for Sudan scheme: the significant public response to the Homes for Ukraine scheme has shown how this can work.  There are many in the UK who will offer homes to Sudanese fleeing war in the same way.  In addition to those already working with existing hosting schemes, many living in the UK have links with Sudan, via the professions, friendships, aid, academic contacts etc.  Offering a home as a way to allow their friend or contact to escape could be popular.  But of course, it will need local authorities to support and monitor it.
• Funding for local authorities to support people from Sudan:  again, to mirror that on offer for Ukrainians.  This can be used to provide necessary services, preferably in partnership with Sudanese communities and groups and commissioning them where possible. 

This briefing is available on the Migrant Champions Network website here and will be updated as the situation changes.

mage: Author: TUBS, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.