Migrant Destitution Fund

Migrant Destitution Fund The MDF is open to members of our GM communities who are forced into destitution by the UK immigration & asylum system.

solidarity / cash grants / partnership / advocacy

migrantdestitution.co.uk

📢Fighting the crisis in immigration advice📢Following our community consultation on lived experiences of the legal aid cr...
27/07/2026

📢Fighting the crisis in immigration advice📢

Following our community consultation on lived experiences of the legal aid crisis (https://tinyurl.com/mwzm5thf) we recently hosted an event for our referral partners on how they can support people to navigate the crisis in immigration advice, and how we can stand up to fight for better access to justice.

Thank you so much to our amazing speakers from Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit, Migrants Organise and Right to Remain These Walls Must Fall for sharing your expertise with everyone in the room!

As a follow up to this event, we've created a webpage with resources for organisations to fight back against the legal aid crisis: https://migrantdestitution.co.uk/legal-resources/

If you have any additional resources you think we should include, contact us at [email protected].

Read more about the event on our website here: https://migrantdestitution.co.uk/our-event-navigating-the-crisis-in-immigration-advice/

It takes courage to speak out about the systems designed to silence us and break our spirit.
24/06/2026

It takes courage to speak out about the systems designed to silence us and break our spirit.

Together with MDF partners Equal Education Chances, WAST Manchester, Growing Together Levenshulme and Support & Action f...
10/06/2026

Together with MDF partners Equal Education Chances, WAST Manchester, Growing Together Levenshulme and Support & Action for Womens' Network - SAWN, we’ve responded to the government’s 'Family Returns' consultation.

⚠️The proposals would remove vital support from children, push more families into destitution, and allow the use of force against children during removals.

We see every day the hardships that families with children already face, whether on the poverty of asylum support, or being forced into destitution. We’ve drawn on our collective expertise to set out the significant and predictable harms these proposals will cause.

These are not accidental harms. They are designed into the proposals, weaponising children’s wellbeing for the purposes of immigration control.

🔹Read the blog summary: https://migrantdestitution.co.uk/joint-response-to-government-family-returns-consultation/

🔹Our full consultation response: https://tinyurl.com/mskcrae5

Any politician or civil servant who signs off on these proposals can't say they haven't been warned. They know what they are doing: the harms are clear, severe, and avoidable.

On Monday, we came together for our latest MDF partnership event.We heard:✨️ from two new MDF members about the amazing ...
20/05/2026

On Monday, we came together for our latest MDF partnership event.

We heard:

✨️ from two new MDF members about the amazing work they do: Steered To Serve. & Moss Side & Hulme Training and Community Enterprise. We're so glad to have them in our network!

✨️ from our spokespeople, who spoke powerfully about what it means to be trapped by enforced destitution - sharing their experiences, frustrations, and hopes. More on this to follow.

✨️ about the campaign. It is not OK that people in our communities are forced into years of destitution and "endless cycles of waiting" (as John shared). We must change the system that makes this happen. https://migrantdestitution.co.uk/end-destitution/

✨️ about the new GMIAU & MDF info sheet on section 17 support for families. https://migrantdestitution.co.uk/information-sheet-on-local-authority-support-for-destitute-families/

✨️ from GMIAU about the govt's proposed changes to 'family returns' and the current consultation. https://gmiau.org/guide-to-the-family-returns-consultation/

✨️ from each other - reflecting on how this impacts us, the people we work with, our communities, and how, as a partnership we can speak out collectively against these harmful proposals.

🌱 We also shared delicious, nourishing food prepared by members of Growing Together Levenshulme - something we’re so grateful for.

We come together every six months. And each time, we are responding to an increasingly hostile environment. Destitution continues to be used as a weapon of immigration control.

But every time we gather, our resolve grows stronger, our solidarity deepens, and our commitment to work together - and to speak out for humanity, justice, and an end to destitution - is renewed.

Thank you to all who joined and make the work we do together possible 💛

Together with the Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit, we have produced an information sheet about local authority s...
22/04/2026

Together with the Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit, we have produced an information sheet about local authority support for destitute families in GM:https://migrantdestitution.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/S17-Information-Sheet.pdf

We don’t believe that anyone should be forced into destitution because of their immigration status – especially children. The information sheet is therefore aimed at families themselves, and services supporting them, to identify a potential pathway out of destitution.

While people with ‘no recourse to public funds’ (NRPF) cannot access mainstream welfare, they may be eligible for support under section 17 of the Children Act 1989. Our information sheet includes:

🔹What section 17 support should entail, and what people should not be offered
🔹How to apply and where people can seek advice
🔹How children’s services will decide what to offer
🔹How immigration status may affect the support offered, as well as any risks to applying

To find out more, visit our website: https://migrantdestitution.co.uk/information-sheet-on-local-authority-support-for-destitute-families/

Last month we released our impact report about MDF's activity in 2025 across all our strands of work - promoting dignity...
22/04/2026

Last month we released our impact report about MDF's activity in 2025 across all our strands of work - promoting dignity and wellbeing through our grants programme; fostering a partner network of care and solidarity; and working towards our vision of a world without destitution.

“The money is important to buy things I need but the MDF also makes me feel like people are looking out for me, that I'm not alone. It means a lot to me.”

Check out the full report:https://migrantdestitution.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Impact-Report-2025.pdf

Huge thanks to the many people and organisations who have made all this work possible.

09/03/2026

Over the last few weeks, the Home Secretary made a number of announcements about the asylum system. These have been both confusing and worrying.

Right to Remain will be hosting our Radical Solidarity Hub online meeting this week on Thursday 12 March, on Zoom, 2:00 - 3:30. In this session, we will:

- Share what we know, based on the official information. We will be going over our legal update we published last week.
- Exchange our responses and thoughts about these changes. - - Collect questions and concerns that we have.

Please note that we do not have all the answers: there are still so many unknowns. We recognise, however, that we need to come together and think about how they will affect our community and what we should do.

This session is particularly aimed at small grassroots organisations with no in-house policy or legal expertise. We will prioritise spaces for this target group.

https://righttoremain.org.uk/radical-solidarity-hub-making-sense-of-the-latest-changes-to-the-asylum-system-12-march-online/

👥👥👥 It takes all of us! 👥👥👥Have you joined the campaign?Visit the campaign page for actions you can take: https://migr...
01/03/2026

👥👥👥 It takes all of us! 👥👥👥

Have you joined the campaign?

Visit the campaign page for actions you can take: https://migrantdestitution.co.uk/end-destitution/

✨️ Write to your local MP and councillors (template letters available)

✨️ Write a message of solidarity and welcome

✨️ Sign the pledge

✨️ Donate to the MDF

Every action matters. Together we can stand up for what's right - an end to destitution in our GM communities.

📣Today we have launched the campaign📣https://migrantdestitution.co.uk/end-destitution/‼️The government’s latest plans ...
27/01/2026

📣Today we have launched the campaign📣

https://migrantdestitution.co.uk/end-destitution/

‼️The government’s latest plans threaten to force yet more people in our communities into destitution. We must stand against this.

Rather than creating an even more Hostile Environment, we want the government to stop using destitution as a weapon of immigration control, so that everyone in our society can live with dignity, no matter where they come from.

✊🏾We are not powerless. There is so much we can do to show up in solidarity with people in our communities facing enforced destitution, and to advocate for change.

✨Visit our campaign page for some solidarity actions you can take!

https://migrantdestitution.co.uk/end-destitution/

Address

Manchester

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Migrant Destitution Fund posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organisation

Send a message to Migrant Destitution Fund:

Shortcuts

Share

Category