Lockdown restrictions meant that our in-person drop-in service became a phone advice line, regularly speaking to 25 people per day. Between March 2020 and December 2020 our caseworkers took 3,097 calls. 

The records of these calls show the issues people were facing. 261 had been affected by Covid-19 delays; 231 were facing homelessness or destitution; 151 were facing domestic violence or abuse. These issues are caused or exacerbated by insecure immigration status.

In our report, you can read about the experiences of people we support in their own words. Lockdown delays have left people waiting for months or years for an immigration decision, living with financial insecurity, a struggle to access services and feelings of anxiety, stress and isolation.

One person we're working with, whose case has been open for over a year, told us how she battled Covid: "I was ill with my daughter. I could not go out, I couldn't claim any benefits, I was living on £140 a month. It was really a hell of a thing."

GMIAU staff shared their own experiences of the pandemic - working from home, getting to grips with new technology, and supporting clients remotely. New staff have got to know their colleagues over Zoom and all have navigated new challenges.

Chief Executive Denise says, "The last year has shown that the core of the organisation works. It isn’t about a building. It is based on communication."

The EU Settlement Scheme is meant to ensure no EU citizen who was living in the UK before 2021 will be wrongly subjected to immigration control. But our records show it's not so straightforward, with hundreds of callers concerned about Brexit, their immigration status, and the possibility of losing their rights.

With the deadline coming up at the end of June, we're continuing the fight to ensure no one is left behind.

Lockdown was especially hard for the children we support. Those who are alone seeking safety in the UK had to wait many months - sometimes years - for asylum decisions. And it was harder to offer support through our All4One group as in-person meeting was impossible. But we continued to support children and young people and amplify their campaigns to make things better - read how in our report.

The pandemic saw dire consequences where precarious work overlapped with precarious immigration status. But we also saw unprecedented support for people experiencing street homelessness - the Everyone In campaign proved that communities can be protected from the worst destitution. We continue to fight for the people we support to access that protection.