What We Do

HMSC endeavours to provide holistic and in-depth advice, support and casework on immigration, welfare and housing issues for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers across London. We also run a regular community space, and we tackle the root causes of the issues our visitors face through our campaigning and policy.

Advice and casework

Visitors to HMSC first contact us through our New Enquiries phone line, on Thursdays. The visitor’s needs will be briefly assessed by a member of staff and if the issue is something that we can assist with, they will be invited to a triage appointment on a Monday. During triage, volunteers (supervised by members of staff) undertake an assessment, identify the visitor’s needs, collect key information, alleviate immediate hardship (eg referral to a foodbank) and provide emergency support.

Following triage, visitors are offered the appropriate support, including:

  • Immigration advice from our in-house immigration advisors or partners (Islington Law Centre), and follow-up casework as appropriate;
  • Support with access to legal representation, including applications for Exceptional Case Funding (ECF) and referrals to legal aid lawyers;
  • Expert housing and destitution advice and casework from our in-house advisers;
  • Referral to community care solicitors at a partner firm;
  • Casework support on other issues including health, education and wellbeing;
  • A weekly Catch-up line that any existing visitor can call to have an update on their case or ask a question.

Our visitors include asylum seekers, refugees and migrants with insecure immigration status who have been affected by the ‘hostile environment’ agenda. Around two thirds of the people we support are women, most of whom have children.

We operate thanks to a small team of staff and many great volunteers, who play a crucial role in the organization of our services.

In 2024-25:

  • HMSC supported 555 individual visitors (along
    with their     488 dependent children)
  • 178 individuals received immigration advice
  • 144 individuals received housing and welfare advice
  • 110 Subject Access Requests were made to the Home Office to get files so visitor’s immigration histories could be fully established
  • 9 20 Year cases were fully prepared in house and placed with a legal provider.
  • 126 visitors were successfully referred to a solicitor to get representation in their immigration or housing cases
  • We distributed a total of £13,804.35 in destitution support, including 130 supermarket vouchers, 129 small hardship payments and 6 large financial grants.

Campaigning and policy

We are developing our work advocating for a fairer world and the end of the hostile environment for migrants. In summer 2025, we held our second annual Casework Solidarity Forum, bringing together organisations dedicated to migrant solidarity and frontline community support from across the UK. You can find out more about HMSC’s campaigning and policy work here.