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Begins University to train as engineer
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War breaks out
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Quits University due to poverty - becomes political activist
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Fellow activists murdered by rebel army
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Sister assassinated
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Claims asylum in UK having fled DR Congo
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Dispersed to Bradford on NASS - indecent housing and £30 pw
No choice housing and £30 a week -
Period: to
Gets £30 a week and no-choice housing on NASS
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Asylum claim refused
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Lodges appeal on legal aid
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Appeal refused
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Cannot get legal aid to challenge - solicitor asks for £1500
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Buys fake ID and NINo and gets factory job via agency
Friend helps him acquire a false ID and National Insurance Number (NINo) so he can sign up to employment agency to find urgent job. Works 8am-6pm 5 days a week in food packing factory; 30 minute paid break; agency pays £4.84 an hour National Minimum Wage but deducts £20 a week for transport to factory; gross weekly pay is £242 but income tax and NI are deducted at source so takes home £170 for first week. Unable to claim this back due to false documents. -
Workplace raided by immigration
Fred 'tipped off' by night worker that immigration police raided the factory during the night. Fred phones in sick to agency to avoid chance of day raid. -
Quits factory job - agency withhold '4 days' of wages
Feels too insecure to continue in factory job due to risk of immigration raid and harm to asylum claim. But when he rings the agency to ask for his 4 days missing pay for the second week of work, they ask him to come in with his documents. He understands this a threat and does not persist. -
Lodges Judicial Review - pays solicitor £100
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Judicial Review unsuccessful
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Family in Congo urgently need money for medicines
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NASS support cut off - destitute and homeless
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Period: to
Destitute and homeless
Lives in bus station durind day, sleeps rough or on friend's floors or even occasionally sneeks into other friend's night shelter -
No choice but to find job - borrows friend's NINo
No money for food, housing or to send to his family back home, Fred's friend with refugee status takes pity on him and lends him his NINo to get a job. Finds job via agency in clothes packing company in Wakefield paying National Minimum Wage. Wages paid into his friend's bank account. £5.60 p/hour, 8 hour days, 40 hour weeks, 30 mins paid break. Extremely physically demanding. Fred would be fined £300 for sending clothes boxes to wrong destination. -
Friend begins to exploit Fred - forced labour indicator
Friend who owns NINo gives Fred the first week's wages due to his situation but soon starts to deduct between 50% and 70% of weekly wage and sometimes refuses the whole wage. Friend in control as he knows Fred's precarious situation. -
Period: to
Experiencing forced labour indicators
Friend who owns NINo gives Fred the first week's wages due to his situation but soon starts to deduct between 50% and 70% of weekly wage and sometimes refuses the whole wage. Friend in control as he knows Fred's precarious situation. -
Lodges fresh claim and applies for Section 4
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Section 4 support granted - quits job
With asylum support reininstated and his family's remittance needs much reduced, Fred can now walk away from the exploitative relationship withi his 'friend'. -
Period: to
Asylum suport reinstated - no longer destitute
£35 a week vouchers and shared accommodation -
Arrested when reporting to UKBA - charged with using false instrument
Fred's friend secretly reports him to UKBA for illegal working and he is arrested. -
Convicted and given 6 months suspended prison sentence
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Fresh claim refused
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Asylum support cut off again - destitute and homeless
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Period: to
Asylum support cut off - Destitute
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Uses fake papers to get job in care home in York
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Period: to
Finds work in private residential care home
Friend who is also a refused asylum seeker helps Fred to get a false home office document stating he has the right to work and a false NINo. Uses these papers to get a job via an agency in a residential care home in York. £5,60 p/hour NMW for 35 hour weeks with lots of overtime and irregular hours not always paid; £60 a week in transport costs for 2 hour daily round trip; no in-work benefits; £40 a week rent. -
Rents a private bedsit in Harehills
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Takes week off work due to ill health from long hours
Employer rings Fred up and demands he comes in as they are shortstaffed. Fred says he is too ill and will return as soon as better. Employer tells Fred to bring his passport with him. Fred decides he is danger of being detected so refuses to come back. -
Quits job after employer asks to see 'papers'
Employer rings Fred up and demands he comes in as they are shortstaffed. Fred says he is too ill and will return as soon as better. Employer tells Fred to bring his passport with him. Fred decides he is danger of being detected so refuses to come back. -
Final week's wages withheld by ex-employer - forced labour indicator
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Illegally evicted from flat for 2 weeks arrears
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Moves in with asylum seeker in NASS housing
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Given Indefinite Leave to Remain Case Resolution status
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Evicted from NASS accommodation and vouchers stopped
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Temporarily homeless
Not enough time to bid for social rented housing or arrange for a private let through housing benefit - mainly because the estate agent contracted by UKBA to help refugees transition out of NASS housing did not help him - left him temporarily homeless. -
Period: to
Eligible for Jobseekers Allowance, Housing Benefit and Right to Work
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Period: to
Barriers to Decent Work due to Criminal Record
Fred suffers huge barriers to decent work even with the Right to Work. Applies for jobs in public and private sectors including train conductor, customer service advisor, support worker, bank admininstrator, and gets shortlisted or offered the job only for the CRB check to reveal her criminal record. Most employment agencies will not touch him. Each time an actual vacancy comes up in care homes, he is refused but they have no problem employing him as an agency worker -
Rents a private bedsit in Beeston
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Applies for family reunion
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Family reunion application rejected
His family spent over £1200 to apply for the VISA plus the cost of travelling within Dr Congo to make the application. The application is rejected because he doesn't have appropriate accommodation and a job with a certain income to support the family - based on ILR Case Resolution status. -
Finds a job via agency as a cleaner in local business
£6.50 p/hour NMW; 8 hour days but unpaid overtime the norm -
Employer starts withholding wages
Having revealed his criminal record and confided in the employer about his need for a stable job to help his family to get Visa to come to the UK, the employer appears supportive. But after paying Fred the full wage for the first month, he then fails to pay Fred in full for the next 4 months with some months seeing no wages. -
Period: to
In severely exploitative situation
Fred could not exit the job: his family reunion application depends on it and he stayed in the hope being finally paid. After quitting, Citizens Advice Bureau successfully advise him how to get his owed wages back. -
Allocated a council house with 2 bedrooms
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Criminal record means limited exit options - only 1 agency will take him on
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Finally finds new agency work in care homes
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Period: to
Works for same recruitment agency in care homes
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Forced labour indicator - withheld wages
New law introduced from 1 October 2012 entitles agency staff not on a Pay Between Assignments agreement to the same basic pay and working conditions as permanent employees after 12 consecutive weeks working for the same employer. Fred is working for the same care home for more than 12 weeks but does not earn a pay increase in line with their staff. He keeps asking the agency and they keep stalling.