Our policies, briefings and reports form the work that we do at Refugee Action to generate knowledge and identify solutions to end the hostile environment.
If you have questions or requests, please email [email protected].
Locked Out and Locked Up: Experiences of asylum policy and systemic racism in the UK and northern France
Refugee Action’s new report, Locked Out and Locked Up: Experiences of Asylum Policy and
Systemic Racism in the UK and Northern France, is the result of a year-long research project, co-led by a researcher with lived experience of asylum, which included interviews with 32 people seeking safety – from the UK’s asylum hotels to the living sites around Calais in northern France.
Published : April 2026
Parliamentary Briefing – The “one in, one out” policy
The “one in, one out” policy renders certain asylum claims inadmissible based on mode of arrival, enabling detention and removal to France while offering limited alternative safe routes.
Evidence indicates the policy is inconsistent with international refugee law, exacerbates racial inequality, exposes individuals to harm, and is unlikely to reduce Channel crossings.
Published : January 2026
Parliamentary Briefing – The “one in, one out” policy
The “one in, one out” policy renders certain asylum claims inadmissible based on mode of arrival, enabling detention and removal to France while offering limited alternative safe routes.
Evidence indicates the policy is inconsistent with international refugee law, exacerbates racial inequality, exposes individuals to harm, and is unlikely to reduce Channel crossings.
Published : January 2026
Parliamentary Briefing – A community investment plan for asylum housing
This briefing examines how the UK’s housing crisis and contractor-led asylum accommodation system are driving unsafe living conditions, rising public costs and community harm. Drawing on interviews, surveys and roundtables with councils and charities, it sets out an evidence-based case for a locally led housing model that reinvests public funding into communities, improves outcomes for people seeking asylum, and delivers better value for money.
Published : December 2025
Research report : Laying the foundations, Making asylum housing work by investing in communities
Our report calls for a community-investment model, shifting government funding away from private asylum accommodation contracts and into social housing and local services. This approach can deliver a fairer, more sustainable system for all who need secure housing.
Published : December 2025
Statistics report : Quarterly Home Office immigration stats
Refugee Action’s analysis and summary of the government’s quarterly immigration system statistics.
Our briefing analyses the figures with a lens of racial justice, climate justice, housing justice and the right to work.
Organisations are free to use these in their campaigns, communications, and research.
Published : May 2025
Parliamentary Briefing – How we must house people seeking asylum
This parliamentary briefing examines the structural failures of the contractor-led asylum housing system and the impact of under-investment in social housing on people seeking asylum and local communities. It sets out evidence-based recommendations for a decentralised, council-led housing model, alongside urgent reforms to improve standards, accountability and safeguarding within the current system.
Published : April 2025
Parliamentary Briefing – Changes to Home Office Guidance on good character requirement
for citizenship
This parliamentary briefing analyses the February 2025 changes to the Home Office “good character” guidance, which effectively bar many refugees who arrived irregularly from accessing British citizenship. It examines the legal, racial justice and integration impacts of the policy, and sets out recommendations to repeal the changes and protect fair, accessible citizenship pathways in line with refugee and human rights obligations.
Published : February 2025
Parliamentary Briefing – Asylum in the UK: A Front Line for Racial Justice
This briefing examines how the UK asylum system operates as a frontline racial justice issue, linking hostile migration policies, political rhetoric and accommodation practices to structural racism and increased risk for people of colour. Drawing on evidence and lived experience, it sets out urgent recommendations for legislative reform, cross-government action and accountability to dismantle the hostile environment and advance racial justice.
Published : December 2024
Report : Asylum in the UK : A Frontline for racial justice.
The story of racism in the UK asylum system can be told in seconds, through the unfairness and abuse faced by people treated as outsiders. But look deeper, and there’s a longer story that unfolds from Britain’s imperial past.
It’s a story told in Refugee Action’s new briefing, by researchers with lived experience of seeking safety in the UK.
Published : June, 2024
Research Report : All Punishment, No Protection : Why the Anti-refugee bill should be scrapped
Refugee Action carried out a detailed analysis of the Bill, finding that its mix of criminalisation, detention, deportation and abandonment amounted to the biggest attack on refugee protection we’ve ever seen.
Published : 2021
Research Report : Waiting in the Dark: How the Asylum System Dehumanises, Disempowers and Damages
Based on interviews with 40 individuals who have firsthand experience of claiming asylum, this report sheds light on the traumatic experiences and challenges faced during the asylum process.
Published : 2020