Purpose

Grant funding for
voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations

Decision

That the Deputy
Leader and Cabinet Member for Children, Education &
Refugeesapproves the award of grant funding for seven voluntary and
community sector (VCS) organisations to sustain and expand the
current multiagency response to support Southwark based asylum
seekers and refugees that fit the Home Office’s criteria for
Streamlined Asylum Processing (SAP) legacy cases.
 
The total funding
will amount to £284,227 and covers the provision of the
following services until March 2025:
· 
£85,177 for Southwark Refugee Communities Forum (SRCF) to run
a weekly surgery to provide newly granted refugees access to
essential services including housing and wrap around integration
support through other agencies
· 
£82,000 for BEAM to rapidly roll out four, ten week intensive
ESOL courses for asylum seekers in the borough
· 
£65,050 for Kineara to provide one to one support to single
refugees who are struggling to access housing in the private rented
sector
· 
£25,000 for Southwark Day Centre for Asylum
Seekers (SDCAS) to maintain its triaging of SAP clients and the
provision of holistic support to address
identified needs
· 
£10,000 for Southwark Law Centre to continue
to provide specialist advice and assistance to operational partners
and undertake policy work related to SAP
· 
£10,000 for Citizens Advice Southwark to
continue to advice and support newly granted refugees to access
benefits and housing
· 
£7,000 for Panjshir Aid to continue to support SAP clients
from Afghanistan and other relevant groups from that region