By Charlotte Peel

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Research carried out by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) and Middlesex University on behalf of the Children’s Commissioner for England has found that at least 15,000 children are growing up in single parent families because of harsh immigration rules introduced by the Coalition Government in 2012.

The rules require British and settled people to earn an income of at least £18,600 per annum in order to qualify to sponsor a non-EEA partner to live in the UK.

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Charlotte Peel[/caption]

JCWI raised the issue of the impact on children at the time the changes were first tabled and has opposed the policy since its inception, campaigning on the issue ever since.

The Children’s Commissioner’s Office commissioned the report after receiving scores of letters from British parents who are unable to meet the income threshold and are living in uncertainty, with families divided across borders as a result.

The financial requirements affect British citizens and long term residents who have fallen in love and started families with someone from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and who wish to live in the UK. The income level would not be met by almost half the adult population and many families with children may never be able to meet them.

The report finds that the threshold is too high and is discriminatory. It particularly impacts the young, BME groups, retired people, women and those living outside of the south-east, where wages are lower. British citizens who have lived and worked abroad and have fallen in love with a ‘foreigner’ are particularly penalised and find it very difficult to return to the UK.

79% of the children surveyed were British citizens, yet they were prevented from living with both of their parents in their own country. The research reveals the diversity of UK families. Non-EEA partners came from 41 different countries. The most common countries of origin were USA, Morocco, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, China and Egypt.

The research team analysed 100 surveys which were received from impacted families and undertook 20 interviews with parents and children. The financial requirements are also examined in detail and an in-depth legal analysis of the immigration rules investigates their compliance with international law.

The report reveals the severe detriment the income requirement is causing children. They are suffering distress and anxiety as a result of separation from a parent, as well as a range of behavioural and emotional problems, including aggression, sleeping and eating problems and social withdrawal.

These behavioural problems are made worse by the stress, anxiety and practical difficulties faced by the family unit. Many parents are also suffering from anxiety and depression as a result of the separation and the pressure of meeting the financial threshold. This directly impacts their children. As one mother of three children, separated from her partner, told the research team:

“I am suffering with depression and as a result my children are feeling my pain. They don't understand what is happening.”

The report finds that the income requirement does not meet its stated aims. It was introduced to reduce reliance on the welfare state and promote integration of families in the UK. However, instead, single-parent families are being forced to rely on benefits without the support of their partner. As one mother stated:

“As a single mother living in the UK on a low income I am in receipt of working tax credits and child tax credits. If I was sharing a house with my partner our joint income would exclude me from these benefits and reduce my ‘drain on the public purse’. Financial support from public funds would not be necessary if I were not a single mother.”

The report contains detailed recommendations on how the rules should be changed in order to comply with the international and national legal obligations to uphold the best interest of children. We await a response from the Home Office.

It has been over three years since the rules changed. For some children this has meant that they have lived almost their whole lives separated from a mother or father, just because their parent does not earn enough money. Another parent said:

“My extremely bright, sensitive 6-year old has suffered more than any of us on this journey. I look at her, and I don’t know her.  She used to cry for daddy a lot, when we were first in the UK after my mother died. Now, she says it doesn’t make any difference if he is here or not. Life without daddy is the norm. 3 years of our lives have gone. Gone because I couldn’t get a job paying the required amount.”

• Charlotte Peel is Policy Officer at JCWI and one of the reports' authors

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