Volunteering opportunities for Refugees and Asylum Seekers

Good Practice for Involving Refugee and Asylum Seeker Volunteers

The New Beginnings project offers help to organisations wanting to involve refugees and asylum seeker volunteers. We have written the following guidelines in response to issues that came up through placing refugee and asylum seeker volunteers with mainstream organisations.

Included in the guide is:

  • Legal immigration information and general good practice on involving refugee and asylum seeker volunteers.

  • Information on CRB checks for asylum seekers and refugees

  • A list of documents that asylum seekers can use to prove their identity to the CRB

  • Guidance on the levels of English required for different roles

Download the guide by clicking on the text below:      
Good Practice Guidelines for involving refugee and asylum seeker volunteers

Our guidance on obtaining CRB checks for asylum seekers has been officially recognised and included in the Cabinet Office June 2008 publication: Criminal Records Bureau checks Guidance for Volunteering.

Download a pdf copy of the Cabinet office CRB guidelines here

If the volunteer does not have 5 of the group 2 documents listed in our guidelines, they can still get a CRB check through the 'finger print' method.  If this is the case you will need to download and edit the pro-forma letter below and send it off with the CRB application form.

  • Criminal Records Bureau (CRB)- Finger Print Request  pro-forma letter Finger Print Request This is a pro-forma letter will enable asylum seekers without 5 group 2 documents to have CRB checks done. They will need to go to their local Police station to have their fingerprints taken. Click here for the  pro-forma letter.

  • CRB - example letter for unknown previous address in the last 5 years
    For asylum seekers and refugees without a full address history please see this letter as an acceptable example of what you can put for previous addresses. Click here for the letter.