Migrants and asylum seekers who are pregnant or new mothers are ignored in public debates about the cost of living crisis. Excluded from the mainstream welfare safety net, these mothers are already at high risk of poverty and destitution. In our Manchester seminar, we ask what can we do to challenge this?
Speakers are women with lived experience, frontline charities, health workers and others with direct experience of supporting migrant mothers in desperate circumstances.
The event will explore the specific barriers to obtaining assistance across the different forms of support and the unacceptably low levels of financial and other help provided to those who do qualify. It will look specifically at Home Office and Local Authority assistance, at the restrictions on mainstream benefits entitlements and the impact of NHS charging. Participants will be asked to share their thoughts. In this very difficult political environment, what are the priorities for campaigning? Which players can we influence, and how can we do this? What are the emerging opportunities? How can we work together to achieve this change?
This event is for those with some knowledge of the migration and asylum system and the support available to these pregnant women and new mothers.