Our response to the Asylum Reforms
Our response to the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood's, speech today, 5 March 2026.
Today's speech by the Home Secretary marks the end of a week in which we have been drip-fed a series of hostile and harmful asylum policies.
Each announcement takes us further away from a system rooted in fairness, humanity, and the protection of people fleeing persecution and danger. Instead, these measures deepen insecurity and compound suffering for those who come to the UK seeking safety.
Over recent days, the Government has proposed to:
Reduce refugee status to a temporary status of just 30-months;
Remove financial and housing support from individuals;
Offer families up to £40,000 to 'voluntarily' leave the UK;
Reform appeals processes in order to increase deportations - including of families with children.
These policies will cause significant harm to people seeking asylum. For women - many of whom have survived sexual violence, trafficking, and other forms of gender-based violence - the impact will be especially severe.
Evidence from Denmark, where similar reforms have been implemented and many of these policies are borrowed from, shows the devastating consequences: women and their children pushed into poverty, insecurity and constant fear; family life destabilised; and access to settled status drastically reduced. Since the introduction of these policies in Denmark, grants of permanent protection for women have nearly halved. We cannot allow the UK to replicate this harm.
The Government knows the impact these measures will have. Yet it continues to sow division, scapegoat refugees and normalise language that dehumanises people who seek safety here. When we find ourselves debating what level of force is 'acceptable' to remove children, it becomes painfully clear just how far compassion and humanity has been stripped from the heart of Government policymaking.
Meanwhile, the Home Secretary offered a token gesture: capped 'legal' routes to work or study for people in need of protection. This announcement came just one day after announcing the suspension of student visas for people from Afghanistan (also skilled worker visas), Cameroon, Myanmar, and Sudan - rendering the latest proposal nonsensical. Without detail, timelines, or accessibility, these so-called 'safe routes' are little more than window dressing, designed to soften the blow of newly-announced punitive measures. People fleeing danger cannot wait years for safe pathways to protection.
All of this is happening while refugee family reunion routes remain closed, keeping families forcibly apart. As it stands, there are very few meaningful, safe and accessible routes for people to reach the UK to seek safety. Until the Government introduces these, lives will continue to be tragically lost.
Today at Women for Refugee Women, we feel anger and disappointment. We feel deep shame that this is the direction our Government continues to take. But we are not surprised. This hostility has been cultivated for years - and today it is in full bloom.
And still, we know that another way is possible.
We believe in an asylum system rooted in compassion, fairness and dignity. When people seeking safety here are given the chance to rebuild their lives, whole communities thrive.
The values of compassion and community - not fear and division - must guide the path forward.
Carenza Arnold, Head of Campaigns, says:
"These policies are a direct assault on the safety and dignity of women who have survived unimaginable persecution and violence. Every day, we hear from women who have fled rape, torture, and trafficking, only to be met with disbelief, hostility, and now an even harsher system that is designed to wear them down.
Instead of building a system that offers safety, the Government is choosing to push people into deeper insecurity, poverty, and fear. This is not what the UK stands for. A society that turns its back on women seeking protection - that pushes them into poverty, strips away security, and shuts the door to safety - is a society losing its moral compass.
We urgently need an approach grounded in humanity and evidence - not punitive, dog-whistle policies that punish the very people most in need of protection. Women for Refugee Women refuses to accept policies that deepen harm. And we refuse to give up on the fight for a compassionate and fair asylum system - because every woman deserves the chance to rebuild her life, in safety."
Refugee status to become temporary for 30 months
The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood MP, announced today (2 March 2026) that refugee protection will become temporary and last for just 30 months.
What does this mean for women seeking safety in the UK?
From 2 March 2026, anyone who claims asylum in the UK and receives refugee protection will be given temporary status of just 30 months.
This change is part of the Government's wider Restoring Order and Control policy paper, which encompasses a series of cruel and punitive changes to the asylum system in the UK.
This means that anyone who has been granted protection in the UK will have their protection needs 'reviewed' every 30 months.
For those whose country is now deemed safe, they will be expected to return there - either voluntarily or by forcible deportation.
For women seeking safety here, this is particularly concerning.
The impact on women
Short-term, temporary leave traps people in cycles of uncertainty and instability and makes it much more difficult for them to rebuild their lives in our communities.
Evidence from Denmark - where many of these policy proposals are borrowed from - highlights the disproportionate harm on women, particularly single mothers, trapping them and their children in cycles of poverty and harm.
We know from our work supporting refugee women - many of whom are survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) - that SGBV happens all around the world, even if a country is not experiencing war, conflict, widespread violence, or political instability. Declaring countries safe ignores the truth: violence against women and girls is a pervasive epidemic.
Furthermore, long-term, secure status is often key to survivors' healing and recovery. Subjecting women who have sought safety here to ongoing fear, precarity and uncertainty is not only cruel, but a direct blocker to their recovery.
This is a shameful approach for a Government committed to tackling violence against women and girls.
Real lives at stake
This change will undoubtedly cause huge harm to people who are seeking safety here.
The Government wants to appear tough on immigration, but this change will have profound consequences on people's lives, wellbeing, and safety.
We call on the Government to urgently reconsider its plans for temporary refugee status.
As ever, we will fight this hostility in parliament, in public, and together with our supporters.
Carenza Arnold, Head of Campaigns, says:
Women for Refugee Women is deeply alarmed by the Government's decision to reduce refugee status to a temporary 30-month cycle. For the women we support - many of whom have survived war, rape and trafficking - repeated reviews create a climate of permanent fear and insecurity. This uncertainty is not only destabilising, it exposes survivors to the ongoing threat of return and the retraumatisation that follows.
Already we know from Denmark – where this policy is borrowed from – women will be disproportionately harmed, particularly single mothers, trapping them and their children in cycles of poverty and harm. This is a shameful approach for a Government committed to tackling violence against women and girls.
This divisive and scapegoating policy is designed to make the Government look ‘tough’ on immigration, but it is real people’s lives at stake. We urge the Government to uphold a system that provides genuine protection for those seeking safety in the UK – not institutionalise insecurity for those who have already endured profound harm.