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In between the Dover Travel Centre's Upper Crust sandwich bar and a Sea France information desk is a cream door. A sign on it warns: "No entry to passengers". The door leads to the UK's first induction centre for new asylum seekers.

The language of asylum processing is confusing. Reception centres are facilities run by local authorities to receive asylum seekers who have been dispersed to their area. Induction centres, by contrast, are the start of the chain. They are the government's responsibility and are run in partnership with local voluntary and statutory agencies. Asylum seekers are expected to spend up to 10 days in these centres before being handed over to the National Asylum Support Service for dispersal. During this time they are briefed on the asylum process, told what entitlements and legal rights they have, given health checks and allocated accommodation.

The concept of induction centres was first raised in the white paper Secure Borders, Safe Haven,¹ and confirmed in October 2001 by home secretary David Blunkett, when he told parliament that a series of centres were being established nationwide. The Dover centre was initially a pilot, set up in January 2002, and is now permanent. Recently, the government announced that a reception centre in Leeds will be converted into the country's second induction centre by the autumn.

For many, "induction centre" conjures up images of razor wire and prison-like warehouses. Dover's induction centre is nothing like this. Its suite of offices in Dover's eastern dock is run jointly by the Home Office and asylum charity Migrant Helpline. The centre arranges short-term accommodation for up to 800 people: families and single women stay in three hotels on Dover's seafront, single men stay in Ashford, and a hotel in Margate caters for all clients.

In the middle of the centre's reception room, three rows of black plastic chairs face a television showing the film George in the Jungle. A poster of the alphabet hangs on the wall and several children play with toys. About 30 asylum seekers are waiting to see one of the two Migrant Helpline caseworkers who will register their details, allocate them emergency accommodation and give them a client pack in one of seven languages. The pack contains a diary of the briefings they must attend, fact sheets and Home Office documents. After this, asylum seekers see another caseworker to fill in their Nass claim form.

Some have been referred to the induction centre by immigration service staff at the port. Others are found in the back of lorries by staff using heartbeat or carbon monoxide monitoring equipment or by sniffer dogs. As fewer people are now entering the UK through Dover this way, Nass's Birmingham office and other agencies have started to refer clients to the centre.

Migrant Helpline has a service level agreement to complete 30 Nass forms daily that, in theory, means clients are supposed to be dispersed within 10 days. But Migrant Helpline operations manager Susan Fawcus says dispersal is often delayed: "I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of clients who have been through induction and come out the other end in seven days."

Fawcus says that almost half of the centre's 560 clients are in dispute with Nass over section 55 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, which states that any asylum seeker who fails to apply for asylum "as soon as reasonably practicable" is not eligible for support.

Shelley Richards is Nass's head of the induction centre. Despite the section 55 hiccups, she says her 15-strong team work well with its voluntary sector partner. "Migrant Helpline are professional about what they do. I have no hesitation that 'no' decisions are implemented, even if they don't agree with them."

Migrant Helpline runs daily briefings (in English) for asylum seekers in its accommodation. These briefings cover orientation and support, asylum process, rights and responsibilities, and dispersal. A translator attends each briefing and asylum seekers can go to as many briefings as they like. In one of the Dover hotels, induction officer Mario Cabuena talks to six Iraqi Kurds and one Iranian Kurd about the asylum process. He is accompanied by Aram Rawf, a translator and Iraqi Kurd asylum seeker. The hotel looks like any other, with blue flowery carpet and basic but functional furniture. Nick Burchill, Migrant Helpline's duty manager, says he has turned away holidaymakers asking for rooms.

Induction centres are controversial and often opposed by local people. Earlier this year residents in Sittingbourne, Kent, successfully campaigned against having one set up. But what do professionals think of the system?


According to Shelley Richards, induction centres are valuable because "they keep asylum seekers informed about each part of the process so they understand what is happening to them".

Refugees Arrivals Project executive director Elizabeth Little says such centres build upon the work they do with asylum seekers arriving at London's airports. She adds: "If you provide a format that is consistent then you know all asylum seekers have the same information." Alistair Griggs, Refugee Council director of regions, agrees new asylum seekers should be under one roof: "That way you know where everyone is and what their initial needs are."

Induction centres provide the opportunity to bring asylum seekers into a safe environment, according to Dr Michael Peel, health and human rights adviser for the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture. "For a short time this kind of semi-institutional environment is appropriate but we would not want it to go on for long." He adds that all induction centres should have systems in place to ensure victims of torture can have their unique needs met. However, Peel warns not all victims will disclose their experiences and it may take time to win their trust.

At the Dover induction centre, nurses Athalie Ducrotoy and Ann Hawes are employed by Shepway Primary Care Trust to provide asylum seekers with health checks and tuberculosis screenings. Ducrotoy says the trust tries to assess asylum seeker's immediate needs and future problems, including torture-related injuries, and provide each person with a medical record they can take away.

As more families with children go into induction centres, protecting children from traumatised adults may become an issue. Peel says: "The idea that you can just put all these families into the same accommodation and they will get on is simply not going to happen."

He adds induction centre staff need to inform asylum seekers about what is regarded as acceptable child-rearing behaviour in the UK. "Having been tortured often makes a parent very vulnerable and irritable and we need to make sure their child is suitably protected."

Little urges induction centres to follow the sector's good practice around child protection. The Refugee Arrivals Project employs child and family welfare advisers to work with clients and it closely audits its accommodation arrangements and the child protection procedures within it.

The government's second induction centre in Leeds will provide 65 beds to families and single asylum seekers already allocated Nass support, as well as briefings, health screenings and a crŠche. It will be run by the Home Office, the Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Consortium for Asylum Seekers and Refugees, and the Refugee Council. A spokesperson for the consortium says no formal child protection procedures will be in place at the centre as "children are the primary responsibility of their parents". All rooms are lockable and children will not be able to use the crŠche unless supervised by a parent.

Griggs firmly backs the new centre in Leeds: "This is the start of a holistic approach to helping asylum seekers. Anything that makes the whole system better and more efficient is a good thing."

¹ Secure Borders, Safe Haven: Integration and Diversity in Modern Britain, Home Office, February 2001

Across the world 

Nationalities presenting to Migrant Helpline and the Dover induction centre in July 2003:  

• 261 Iraqis 
• 176 Afghanis 
• 114 Somalis 
• 77 Congolese