Top doctors have identified Britain’s immigration system as a “public mental health concern” that inflicts harm on asylum seekers, and risks “re-traumatising” those already affected by psychological distress.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) has called on ministers to review immigration laws introduced by the last government, saying Labour had a “moral and ethical obligation” to protect the mental health of those seeking sanctuary in the UK.
“A robust immigration policy can still be guided by human kindness, that is fair and compassionate,” said Dr Lade Smith, the RCPsych president.
Smith said many asylum seekers had left countries where they had experienced violence, rape, imprisonment and torture, before enduring further trauma on hazardous journeys to the UK, sometimes at the hands of people traffickers.
As a result it was unsurprising that many asylum seekers experienced mental illness and were at risk of re-traumatisation because of the treatment they received on arrival. It was the UK’s duty to make their lives “better and not worse”, she said.
While the new government had made some welcome policy shifts, including scrapping plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, a raft of immigration legislation introduced since 2022 remained in place, she said.
These laws criminalised asylum seekers who did not arrive in the UK through established routes, created a more onerous asylum process, and introduced provisions to enable the processing of asylum claims in so-called “third” countries.
The mental wellbeing of asylum seekers came under the spotlight last year after the suicide of a resident in the Bibby Stockholm floating accommodation barge in Dorset, which was notorious for its poor living conditions. The barge is to close in January.
A report to be published by the RCPsych this week criticises conditions in asylum seeker hotels and some “prison-like” detention facilities in which physical and social isolation, sleep deprivation and surveillance of residents are common.
It warns that the new government has not repealed the Illegal Migration Act which paved the way for asylum seekers to be sent to Rwanda. This leaves open the possibility it might in the future push through forced removals to so-called “safe third countries”.
There was evidence from Australia that in cases where asylum seekers were removed to offshore locations for claims processing, they then had high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and self-harm, the report says.
“The government has a moral and ethical obligation to ensure all immigration legislation explicitly protects and supports those with mental illness,” it adds.
Smith said: “As is clear from our report, we particularly welcome the government’s commitment to repeal the Rwanda legislation, as it did not allow those seeking sanctuary to be appropriately assessed and treated for any existing mental illness.”
She added: “The report sets out recommendations that, if adopted by policymakers, and implemented by mental health services and its clinicians, would mitigate some of the harms caused by the process of seeking asylum.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Mental health support is available to all asylum seekers through Migrant Help, and welfare officers are available around the clock to help too. We will, of course, look at any report and make improvements where necessary.”
