Refugee support charity Migrant Help has reported a 37% increase in its annual income, as it continues to service a £235m government contract.
In 2019, the Home Office awarded the 60-year-old charity a tender to serve its Advice Issue Reporting and Eligibility (AIRE) contract, worth £235m over 10 years.
Since the contract award, the charity has seen its income more than quadruple from £11.0m to £45.7m in the year to March 2023, the accounts for which were filed recently.
Some £30.0m of the Kent-based charity’s income came from the Home Office in 2022-23, up from £24.0m the year before, amid an increase in overall migration to the UK and a backlog of asylum applications being processed.
“This contract commenced in September 2019 at volumes vastly more than even the highest levels of Home Office estimates. Those volumes continued to grow month-on-month throughout 2022-23,” the accounts read.
The report adds that the Home Office contract growth “has also impacted directly on the turnover of our trading subsidiary, Migrant Help Trading Limited”, which provide interpretations and translation services for service users and external clients.
Migrant Help Trading Limited generated a profit of £2.29m, up from £1.85m the year before.
“We have also seen growth in the coverage of our contract with the Salvation Army to provide support to victims of modern slavery in the south of England”, the accounts read.
Meanwhile, the charity’s expenditure increased by 49% from £28.1m to £41.7m, with £22.6m spent on staff costs compared to £16.8m the year before.
Migrant Help employed 350 full-time equivalent staff during 2022-23, compared to 273 the year before.
The charity’s total unrestricted funds increased from £10.9m to £15.1m, with its free reserves rising from £8.78m to £11.0m.
In the accounts, the charity says it plans to “widen the scope of future opportunities it can provide its current and prospective service users”.
It plans to diversify its income, with “ambitious plans to forge new partnerships and relationships with companies and individuals who share our vision”.
In 2022, Migrant Help responded to a report by the Conservative Way Forward pressure group, which condemned the government’s funding of charities that campaign on issues such as refugee rights.
“We have a duty to make our views clear on proposed government policy, before it is implemented,” the charity said at the time.
“Our experience makes us well placed to advise policy-makers – and expressing our opinion on proposals (before they are implemented as policy/law) is not in breach of the conditions of our Home Office contract.”
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