ASSET UK

Asylum Seekers' Skills, Empowerment & Training

Partnership

Please note that this website will not be updated after 30 November 2005. The ASSET UK Partnership has now closed. The website is for reference only, but you can still download copies of our publications for free from our Publications page.

The ASSET UK Development Partnership brings together voluntary and educational agencies working on a national level to develop improved ways of helping newly arrived asylum seekers dispersed into the regions in their process of social and vocational integration.

ASSET UK partners are

• The Refugee Council 
• The Basic Skills Agency 
• LLU+  (formerly the London Language and Literacy Unit)
• National Institute of Adult Continuing Education  (NIACE)
• Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities  (NICEM)
• Refugee Assessment and Guidance Unit  (RAGU)
• The Sheffield College 

On a local and national level the partnership is developing and testing new ways of working that will enable asylum seekers to live as independently and productively as they can in their given circumstances so that they are able to find meaningful employment in the UK once they receive a positive decision on their status. At the same time the partnership addresses the need for developing quality infrastructures within the dispersal areas in the UK so that professionals and practitioners working with newly dispersed asylum seekers are better equipped to deliver services.

By working with key agencies and employers and providing asylum seekers with a clearer understanding of the UK labour market, the partnership believes it will have a beneficial effect on public opinion in the regions that will help deter additional discrimination and disadvantage experienced by asylum seekers and assist community cohesion.

ASSET UK addresses the need for newly arrived asylum seekers to learn and improve their English language skills. ASSET UK is developing and testing ESOL and basic skills materials and models of delivery within the dispersal areas of the UK as well as developing the skills of paid and unpaid teachers/trainers to use these new materials and to raise their awareness of the barriers that asylum seekers face.

ASSET UK is developing improved orientation, advice and guidance packs so that local community organisations and agencies are better equipped to provide advice and guidance in dispersal areas. This will help newly arrived asylum seekers gain a more realistic picture of life in the UK, receive information concerning their rights and entitlements and help develop their knowledge of the local labour market and job search requirements. Online orientation packs are being piloted, and asylum seekers are being trained to train other asylum seekers in accessing online information.

ASSET UK is undertaking audits of skills and qualifications of newly arrived asylum seekers in the East Midlands and Northern Ireland and working with employers to make them aware of the skills and qualifications that asylum seekers have and facilitating opportunities for volunteering so that asylum seekers gain a better understanding of the requirements of the UK work place.

National Partner

The ASSET UK Mainstreaming Partnership are working together with the National Learning and Skills Council  to disseminate and mainstream the lessons from ASSET UK and the LSC's strategy for refugees and asylum seekers. ASSET UK will contribute to mainstreaming LSC and government policies and strategies for widening participation, equality and diversity, citizenship, ESOL and basic skills, information, advice and guidance, employer engagement and workforce development.

The UK Asylum Seekers Development Partnership - ASSET UK is part funded by the European Social Fund  under the Equal  Community Initiative Programme.