Contemporary Compulsory Dispersal and the Absence of Space for the Restoration of Trust

This paper investigates the issue of trust, or mistrust, specifically in relation to single adult asylum seekers and asylum seeker families compulsorily dispersed across England. It draws upon doctoral research on the social exclusion of asylum seekers as a result of dispersal and their separation from mainstream welfare provision due to the creation of the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) following the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. Trust is an ambiguous term and four forms of trust are delineated to assist conceptualizing the experience of forced migration: social, political, institutional and restorative trust. This paper provides an overview of the aims and each phase of the implementation of dispersal. It is argued that the dispersal system leaves little room for political or institutional trust to be restored and hinders the restoration of social trust. It is suggested that this lack of space for the restoration of trust has negative implications for the longer term resettlement process of asylum seekers who obtain refugee status. It is also suggested that trust is an essential component of UK government policies promoting social or community cohesion, community engagement and initiatives to combat trafficking, forced marriage and ‘honour’ based violence and that mistrust of asylum seekers as a group directly contradicts such policies and initiatives.