Fury as Home Office-funded app helps illegal migrants find work | UK | News
A Home Office-funded app is helping Channel migrants find work in the UK after arriving illegally, sparking outrage among critics who say it creates a “pull factor” for illegal immigration. Just Good Work, developed in part by Migrant Help, a charity with £385 million of Home Office funding, helps asylum seekers look for work while they wait for the outcome of their application to remain in the UK, The Telegraph reports.
The mobile app has been accused of “encouraging” illegal immigration by telling users that the UK is “a beautiful country with excellent transport links for easy national and international travel”. It also reassures potential immigrants that the Government “will welcome people who want to work for a relatively high minimum wage”. [and] paid leave”.
Meanwhile, the app adds that the UK offers opportunities to learn more about theater and music on arrival, and many organizations will help them “when things go wrong”. The app also teaches about UK culture, saying: “In Britain, it is considered very rude to go to the front of the queue. You have to wait your turn.”
Border Force officers seen bringing boatloads of migrants into Britain
It comes as Border Force officers were seen bringing a boatload of migrants across the Channel into the UK on Wednesday, in the first such scenes for more than a week.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “The Home Office should not fund or approve anything that markets Britain as a place to work, earn and settle while people are still in the asylum system.” He added: “If Labor were serious about stopping crossings, they would stop funding programs that make life in the UK easier after illegal entry. Deterrence only works if illegal entry has real consequences, not state-sponsored aid for entrenchment.”
Immigration Aid is expected to be given £385 million of Home Office funding to support asylum seekers and refugees by 2029. This team worked with the company Fifty-Eight Global in practice through its flagship project “Migrant Worker Advice and Guidance”.
App reveals ‘complete lies’ behind Labor promises
Reform UK MP Lee Anderson said: “Labour is the party of open borders. This app exposes all the lies behind their promise to ‘crush the gangs’. Instead of stopping illegal crossings, they are using hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money to put up yet another neon welcome sign for illegal immigrants.”
William Yarwood, media campaign manager for the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said the charity should no longer receive public money. “With unemployment at a four-year high, the focus should be on getting people who are already here into work, not on using taxpayers’ money to fund Immigration Aid and create labor market entry routes for illegals,” he added.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs previously confirmed that it financed the application in an official statement. “We also continued to fund projects” [including] A free interactive ‘Just Good Work’ app in September 2023,” the ministry said. However, a Home Office spokesperson now says: “The Home Office does not fund this app and has no involvement with its content.”
A spokesperson for Immigration Aid said: “Immigrant Aid’s contribution to the Just Good Work app is limited to a small, clearly defined section explaining UK laws and restrictions, including the fact that people seeking asylum are not allowed to work in almost all cases. This information helps prevent individuals being drawn into illegal work where they are at high risk of exploitation by organized crime gangs.”
