Protecting service user confidentiality for migrants using social care services

What is it about?

Firewalls are clear divisions between border policing and the provision of basic social rights. They have a dual character: to ensure that no information collected with the purpose of safeguarding basic social rights should be shared for immigration control purposes; and that migrants should not be subject to immigration control when being present at, or in the vicinity, of religious, private and public institutions upholding and providing social rights. This article suggests a normative argument for ‘firewalls’ in the context of social work and develops the concept theoretically as a principle practised and negotiated at different scales.

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Photo by Matteo Paganelli on Unsplash

Photo by Matteo Paganelli on Unsplash

Why is it important?

In the UK there are no restrictions on information sharing between immigration control and social care, housing or health services. This is a disincentive for people with an insecure immigration status to seek help, which has particularly serious consequences during the current COVID-19 pandemic. This article uses examples from the UK and Sweden to make a case for 'Firewalls' to protect the social rights of migrants who need to access social work services.