Asylum Welcome supports refugees, asylum seekers and immigration detainees in Oxford and Oxfordshire.

Our volunteers, members, supporters and staff share values based on a common humanity and social justice. Together, we work to reduce poverty, suffering and social isolation, and to enable asylum seekers and refugees to live with the respect and dignity to which they are entitled.

Finance Officer

Asylum Welcome is looking for a part-time Fiinance Officer (7 hours/one day a week) who, along with our Finance Director, will ensure that our financial records and procedures are efficiently maintained and updated.  His/her tasks will include basic book-keeping procedures including the use of SAGE general ledger and payroll, preparing regular accounts to the trial balance stage, assisting in monitoring expenses against budgets, providing figures for funding applications and supporting office volunteers.

Commitment to the values and aims of Asylum Welcome is essential along with relevant professional qualifications (e.g. AAT Foundation Level), excellent skills and experience using SAGE general ledger and payroll as well as Microsoft Office Word and Excel and the ability to work supportively as part of a busy team.

Applications from refugees are also encouraged.

Starting Salary: £25,944 (pro-rata)

Closing date: June 14, 2013      Interviews will take place on June 24 or 25.

For further details and an application form please contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Refugee Week 2013

Please join us on June 17th at 6.30pm for a screening of I am Nasrine at the Ultimate Picture Palace.

This BAFTA-nominated film tells the story of Nasrine and Ali, sister and brother in a middle-class Iranian home. When Nasrine has a run-in with the police, her father orders them both to travel to the UK. Arriving in Britain, their future is far from certain, and as Nasrine finds the courage to accept her fate, she discovers that her journey is really just the beginning.

Tickets (£8/£6 concession) available from the Ultimate Picture Palace box office (01865 245288) or online. All proceeds to Asylum Welcome.

Fundraising Event

On May 2 2013 Asylum Welcome joined forces with the Old Fire Station to raise awareness of asylum seekers and homelessness in Oxford. The evening featured a moving performance from critically acclaimed ice&fire, Tim Travers Hawkins' powerful animation 1000 Voices and music from musicians from Asylum Welcome and Crisis Skylight. This thought-provoking and entertaining evening demonstrated the power of the arts in explaining complex social issues. Thanks to all of you who joined us.

Our new director

We are delighted to announce that Asylum Welcome has recruited a new Director. Kate Smart comes to us after an impressive career with several refugee NGOs, including the Welsh Refugee Council where she was Director of Policy, Communications and Advocacy, the Asylum Support Partnership, the European Council on Refugees and Exiles, and the Refugee Council. She has also worked as a consultant on asylum for numerous NGOs including Oxfam, the Scottish Refugee Council and the Medical Foundation. Her clear commitment to working with refugees and asylum seekers along with her wealth of experience make her the ideal candidate to lead Asylum Welcome forward in these challenging times.

Truth, trust and the asylum system

Asylum Welcome Trustee, Melanie Griffiths, publishes fascinating new article in Anthropology Today.

Urgent call for food cupboard donations

Asylum Welcome is providing support to a number of Syrian families waiting to claim asylum and be relocated. This has put pressure on our resources, particularly the food cupboard which provides food for destitute families. We would welcome donations of food which can be dropped off at our office, Tesco/Sainsbury cards which can be posted, or donations through justgiving. Thank you for your generous support.

Take action

The government has been urged to help hundreds of Syrian students in the UK left without money and at risk of deportation amid the crisis in their homeland. Read more. Sign the Avaaz petition.

News

Scheme for young asylum seekers 'could be model for UK'

The Scottish Guardianship Service (SGS) has supported more than 100 unaccompanied young people - some victims of trafficking.

Security industry provides medics for UK deportation flights

The UK government entrusts security company rooted in the military with medical care of detainees on deportation flights.

Ministers admit trying to forcibly remove tens of thousands of people

System 'in chaos' as nearly half of enforced removals are cancelled, many of them after successful legal challenges.

Victims behind bars

Trafficked as children, repeatedly raped, yet these women are just criminals to the UK justice system.

Woeful asylum support pushes children and families into destitution

Alarmingly low levels of asylum support are forcing thousands of children and their families seeking safety in the UK into severe poverty, putting babies’ and mothers’ lives at risk, a parliamentary inquiry reveals.

For failed asylum seekers, life on Section 4 is a nightmare worse than Kafka

Whether the motivation is malicious or politically manipulative, government cannot continue to treat failed asylum seekers like this.

Lives of destitution

Why the UK's newest citizens are being forced to survive on handouts.

Children 'with no State' in UK

Hundreds of children living rough may have no nationality.

Civil war prompts tenfold rise in Syrians claiming Asylum in the UK

Numbers have soared since civil war gripped the country last year.

Child starved to death after benefits delay

Charities warn of more tragedies to come unless flaw in transition system fixed.

UK asylum process for children labelled 'traumatic'

Children who come to the UK alone find the process confusing, stressful and traumatic, a report suggests.

Government concerns over G4S and Serco to house asylum seekers

Home Office orders weekly reports on progress of security firms' contracts to house asylum seekers.

Volunteers needed

Do you have experience of organising online auctions or would you like to gain some? We are looking for a reliable, computer-savvy volunteer for a short project in June helping to set up a small online auction with our colleagues at the Old Fire Station.

Volunteers needed to help at our Wednesday Lunch Club. This involves helping clients and volunteers prepare lunch and eating together. It is an enjoyable and delicious way of volunteering.  If you are interested and can attend regularly on Wednesdays from 11:30 to 3 please contact Fiona Tracey at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Volunteers needed to help at our Venda Youth Club on Tuesdays from 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. This involves taking part in activities with our young clients including pool, X-box, table football, helping with homework and CVs, and just chatting. Training will be provided. Volunteers must be DBS checked.

Volunteer needed long term one afternoon a week for our Information and Signposting Service.  Experience with advice work required.

Experienced and qualified ESOL teachers are needed to work on a 1.1 basis with our clients who want to learn English. Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for information.

Volunteer with experience of Joomla or web development required. Please contact Fiona Tracey for further information: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.