Introduction

Key design principles of dispersal that may have made the policy more userfriendly were abandoned or unfulfilled early in its implementation. One of these principles was the idea of ‘clustering’ asylum seekers according to their language groups or nationality. There was also a shift from dispersing asylum seekers individually – or in official terms ‘self-write’ – to dispersal by group. Maybe most importantly, suggestions made during the design stage to ensure that asylum seekers were not placed in areas of multiple deprivation were also disregarded. This, and other design elements that may have made the lives of asylum seekers less harsh, are detailed below.

To do this, this chapter views the design and evolution of the dispersal policy, illustrating the geographical spread of cities involved. The ultimate geography of dispersal reflected the availability of unpopular or low-demand accommodation encompassing also the exclusionary policy context towards asylum seekers in which the policy was designed. Compared to the available alternative of claiming SO support, compulsory dispersal created a different pattern of settlement. SO support can be regarded as an indicator of existing social networks and it is revealing that the geographical spread of asylum seekers was radically different under this option than dispersal with its mechanisms of ‘institutionalised redistribution’ (Thielemann, 2003b, p 228).

Locations chosen for dispersal feature heavily in the list of the 88 most multiply deprived districts in England. This link between dispersal and multiple deprivation is explored through the voices of asylum seekers, refugees and voluntary sector practitioners working at grassroots level. It is suggested that the dispersal policy was bedspace-led and that this accommodation, being mainly in multiply deprived areas, was, and remains, key to the reinforcement of formal and informal social exclusion of asylum seekers in the UK.

Evolution and implementation of dispersal

Original design elements of the dispersal policy disappeared during the early stages of implementation of the policy and the criteria unfulfilled or abandoned are addressed below.