Social Work Reports
We provide independent social work reports to be used as expert evidence in immigration and asylum matters. These reports are the outcome of a specialist social work assessment and make recommendations about a person or family’s needs, safety and welfare. Our reports provide rigorous and impartial professional analysis, adhering to the professional standards of our social work regulator (Social Work England) and the duties set out in the Practice Direction for the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal.
We operate a broad referral criteria, and take a person-centred approach to the delivery of our service. We provide evidence for a range of case types, including family reunion, parental deportation, deportation of young people, asylum applications and appeals, family visas, age disputes, adults with complex needs and undocumented children and families.
Our team of case coordinators are experienced social workers who specialise in preparing expert evidence. Case coordinators supervise and support a team consisting of a lead social work assessor and a supporting social work assessor. The lead social work assessor must be a registered social worker and this role is allocated to the person with the most relevant professional experience. The role of supporting social work assessor is usually allocated to new volunteers, or newly qualified social workers or social work students.
We pride ourselves on producing high quality reports that are well received by the judiciary. Producing an independent social work reports requires a lot of time and skill. By operating a robust supervision, review, and quality assurance process we maintain high standards whilst also offering practitioners the opportunity for professional learning and development.
The contribution made by our network of volunteer social workers is outstanding, and we would not be able to do the work that we do without the committed support of so many excellent social workers and social work students.
Happy to report that we have been finally granted leave to remain on the basis of private life. We wanted to take a moment to express our sincere gratitude for all your hard work and dedication throughout the case. Your expertise and commitment were truly invaluable.
SWWB kindly did a report for an Art 8 outside the rules case … their application was granted a couple of weeks ago, no doubt due to the excellent report from your team – thank you so much, it is such a win as it was a real knife edge case!
I just wanted to tell you that my family arrived in UK on Monday. I’m very happy and thank God. Thank you for your help and time what you done for me I will never forget my whole life and I’m grateful for that.
The report has been submitted to the Tribunal, and I just want to thank you as it’s absolutely brilliant…There were a few excellent points that I hadn’t thought of, so thank you very much for picking up on that.
SWWB worked on the case of a client who had been in the UK without legal status for over 30 years, and who was the single parent of a young British child. Our client was living with a deportation order, which meant she could not make a successful application for leave to remain in the UK as it would be certain to fail … I have no doubt at all that we would not have secured this outcome for our client were it not for SWWB. Our client can now live legally in the UK for the first time in 3 decades. She and her child can remain in the place where they are without fear of her being detained and deported.
I have instructed SWWB on several occasions for cases concerning age disputed children. Whilst these children are wrongly treated as adults they are at significant risk in adult accommodation. An independent social work report is a vital piece of evidence and helps persuade the Local Authority to go and meet the child and properly assess them, and then make a decision about their age. This then results in the Local Authority accepting that they have a duty of care to them as a child and providing them with appropriate accommodation and services
I have considered her report and her responses to questions in oral evidence. I find that she does have relevant expertise to comment upon the relationship between the Appellant and his children and relevant expertise in eliciting the needs and wishes of the children … I found Ms X to be a balanced and fair witness. She understood her duties to the court and sets out clearly in her report factors which she cannot comment upon…I accept her evidence that the Appellant had a good relationship with his children and that he had been a significant source of emotional support…
One of the projects we work with is assisting refugees to apply for family reunion for their family members to join them in the UK. The support of Social Workers Without Borders has been vital for us, especially evidencing complex family reunion applications, such as with siblings. The reports are incredibly valuable as they are able to capture the views of the child and the family, and what is in their best interests. Being able to present these strong and independent reports to the tribunal, and to the Home Office, can be the difference between a case succeeding and a case failing
The majority of our clients are undocumented migrants who are homeless , destitute and often rough sleepers. The main types of applications made to the Home Office to regularise their immigration status are based on their poor health and their private and family life. I have instructed SWWB with a few cases for adults with very complex mental health problems including learning difficulties and Psychosis. Reports by SWWB have been an integral part of an application to the Home Office as it helped to prove that a client meets the legal requirements of the immigration rules. It provides an assessment of the client’s social circumstances by covering the private life in the UK and obstacles they will face if removed from the UK. This is often difficult to evidence and a report by an independent social worker has often been key in deciding whether someone should be allowed to remain in the UK because of their human rights.