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Annual ReportAnnual Report 2022/20232022/2023S o l i d a r i t y . E q u a l i t y . M u t u a l E m p o w e r m e n t .S o l i d a r i t y . E q u a l i t y . M u t u a l E m p o w e r m e n t .H o s p i t a l i t y . I n t e g r i t y . C r e a t i v e R e s i s t a n c e .H o s p i t a l i t y . I n t e g r i t y . C r e a t i v e R e s i s t a n c e .

For asylum seekers in the UK, the last few years have been increasinglydifficult. I am proud to say that Bristol Hospitality Network has been at theforefront of efforts in Bristol to counter the difficulties that they face throughdestitution, whether it is lack of safe accommodation or lack of advice aboutlocal resources. As the number of asylum seekers housed locally in HomeOffice funded hotels increases, the demand for our services grows. It is vitalthat the sector makes best use of our combined resources in Bristol, so BHNhas been working closely with Bristol Refugee and Asylum SeekersPartnership (BRASP), a cooperative bringing together a range of supportorganisations in the city. Last year, I had the privilege of taking over the role of Chair of Trustees fromSarah Webb, who did a great job. Not long after joining, I was joined by myCo-chair Emmanuel Kamuhanda, and together we have been working todevelop and promote BHN's Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity (EDI) program,ensuring that our members have an active and meaningful voice in therunning of the organisation. The BHN trustee board works closely with ourAdvisory board which is made up of members with lived experience, ensuringthat our journey towards a member-led organisation goes from strength tostrength. James Collett — Co-Chair.A message from our Chair Director’s Statement We continue to live in unprecedented times, where hostile and negativerhetoric dominates the narrative around asylum seekers and refugees. Here atBHN we see first hand the impact of this narrative on our members. Ourmembers are fearful and scared, and believe there is little hope ofacceptance, let alone safety, in a political landscape that vilifies them andrefutes their right to claim asylum in this country. But the tougher it gets outthere, the more we dig in in here. We are united and focused on redressingthe balance, welcoming people at a crisis point in their lives to a place wherethey can feel safe and valued, meet people, share food and feel like theybelong. Mijanou Blech — Director.

We hosted 31 members For a total of 7,438 nightsFrom 15 countriesWe welcomed 399 individuals to our drop in We provided 3500 hot meals We delivered 120 English classes to 47 individualsWe gave out £32000 in solidarity paymentsWe saw 108 people come through our advice servicesWe delivered 688 face-to-face meetings Our Impact 2022/23Male 72%Female 22%Not Known6%AfghanistanIranBangladeshIndian Sub ContSyriaRoWAfrica OtherMiddle EastEritreaS&C America0%5%10%15%20%Members by GenderMembers by Country of origin

Our Impact 2022/23“BHN helped me so much, I felt I was no onewith nothing and no hope at all. BHN helpedme with everything; they are alwaysalongside me for the important things liketaking me to my Home Office interview.”“When I first came here, I loved it. Ilove sewing. I would sew all dayeveryday, it helped mepsychologically and mentally to helpas a volunteer.”“You helped me when other peoplesay they can’t help. You try and youkeep trying for me, even when it's hardand other people say no, not possible.That’s the difference.”BHN 2022 Member Survey 95% said BHN was effective insupporting asylum seekers75% said BHN createdan inclusive space 85% of BHN memberssaid they felt listened to75% said BHN provided themwith safe accommodation

Providing a specialised service in the asylum seeker/refugee sector, BHN operates asa one-stop shop. When your claim is refused, you lose your statutory accommodation and subsistence.In reality, this means homelessness and destitution whilst living in the UK where youcame for safety. In this situation, you have no recourse to public funds so you cannotuse night shelters or Bristol City Council support. At this point, BHN offers 3 vital support structures: 1. Accommodation in our hosting network + solidarity funds2. Legal advice and guidance from our Help team 3. Rehabilitation through our welcome centre, including referrals to GPs, foodbanks,and crisis mental health support, ESOL classes, volunteering opportunities, and asafe space to socialise in and to be a human being. Once hosted through BHN, the support from our team is excellent. However, there isgreat pressure on our resources through the sheer numbers of people needing ourservices. Our small team currently supports 31 hosted members and assessed anadditional 15 who we are unable to accommodate.BHN hosting network relies on volunteer households offering a spare room, and onour men's house in Fishponds. The men's house provides a safe home to live withpeers, but is costly with food, utilities and maintenance for 12 people. Bristol has extremely high rental and living costs and a shortage of housing. Thismeans we have to work much harder to find accommodation for our members. Hostsare such a valuable resource, and we're always aiming to recruit more. BHN has a very high success rate for people we support getting their leave to remainin the UK. This is an amazing achievement. However, our members then face a newproblem of finding somewhere to live. Private rental is prohibitively expensive so,often after years of hardship, we see people return to homelessness and sofa surfingonce more. We would support a campaign to have asylum seekers placed as havingpriority need for social housing, but the current political climate and government isunsupportive. BHN House and Hosting11 have got their Leave-to-Remain11 have submitted a fresh claim and received Home Office support(or are waiting for it to be provided)1 has moved on to stay with friends8 remain hosted with usWe have had much to celebrate this year:Of the 31 guests we accommodated…

BHN House and HostingCase study We worked with Hozan from Iraq this year. He had been surviving in the UK without resolvedstatus for many years having been refused asylum early on. Struggling with poor mental healthand exploitation through unsafe work situations, Hozan developed an alcohol addiction inorder to numb what he described as the pointlessness of his situation. BHN built a safety netaround Hozan focusing on his health and accommodation. He was hosted in our men’s housewhere our live-in hosts could knock on his door every day to check in with him. We watched hishealth improve and he was able to engage with services. He started to look after the gardenat our men’s house and to volunteer at a farm growing vegetables. Hozan submitted a freshasylum claim and was finally awarded refugee status this year. He now works in his friend’srestaurant and brings food and beautiful plants to BHN on his regular visits. Hosting Network storyWe extend our gratitude to the 15 families who stepped in this year to provide a home for BHNguests. To provide a room and a key means to extend hospitality, welcome and trust. Thischanges lives. Aliyah: “My hosts welcomed me and I felt like a family member. I loved cooking with them andthey helped me with my studies. They were so kind. When I was stressed and shut myself awayin my room they left me notes on the kitchen table and they listened when I wanted to talk. Wealways ended up with laughter.” SyriaAfghanistanBangladeshEthiopiaIraqNigeriaSomaliaSudanUgandaAlgeriaEgyptGambiaKurdish IraqiSierra LeoneSri Lanka8 6 4 2 0 Our Hosted members come from...

Advice helping people to understand asylum processes and their own cases,to find evidence for their claims, and liaising with their solicitorsensuring access to healthcare, prescriptions and mental health supportnegotiating NHS fees and debtsidentifying entitlement to and applying for Home Officeaccommodation. CaseworkWe’ve seen a huge increase in the number of people asking for advice andhelp this year. Our wonderful volunteer advice team have managed tomeet this need, despite the number of sessions increasing from 182 advicemeetings in 2021-22, to 391 in 2022-23. This advice was provided mostly at our drop-in centre on Mondays, withpeople also being assisted by phone, video calls and appointments. Our advice includedVolunteersAdvice volunteers in the year were David, Georgina, Jeff, Tom, Lex andBeryl, all of whom have expertise in different areas and who worked hardto provide an inclusive, listening and supportive service, as well asexcellent and effective advice. We’re also grateful to our lovely service-user volunteers, who managereception, help with interpreting and understanding, and ensure thatpeople who need us know where we are.StaffWe were lucky to recruit our brilliant database administrator, Carol, whohas helped us immeasurably in creating and developing our case recordingsystem and ensuring that we have accurate records of everything whichBHN does with our service users.

Advice Improving our systems, standards and ability to meet needIt’s become increasingly difficult, and sometimes impossible, for people tofind legal representation under the legal aid system. The asylum process becomes ever more complex and punitive, and peopleare suffering without any legal advice. More and more people we see havehad their claims ‘withdrawn’ by the Home Office without even having had aproper hearing, for having been unable to ‘comply’ with the rigours of thesystem.In response, we’ve continued to work on improving our systems andstandards, so we can demonstrate advice excellence, provide a morecomprehensive service, and register with the Office of the ImmigrationServices Commissioner. This will enable us to provide our members withlegal advice and guidance on their asylum claims, and increase theirchances of getting the protection they need. We hope to complete thisregistration in 2023-24. This will help BHN to better meet our aims tosupport and empower people to find a safer and more stable future.Ali - An advice service case studyAli was caught in limbo. Having fled war and violence in Iraq, his asylumclaim was refused. He was homeless and destitute, with no rights. Hecouldn’t go back to Iraq even if he wanted to, as the Iraqi authoritieswouldn’t have allowed him to live there without the right paperwork, whichhe didn’t have and couldn’t get. All the solicitors he’d been to had saidthere was nothing they could do.Our advice volunteers researched case law, and found that recent changeshad created a precedent for people in Ali’s situation. We helped Ali puttogether a summary of his case, and of the evidence showing why he wouldbe unable to return. A solicitor agreed to take on the case, and Ali wasgranted Humanitarian Protection.

Welcome CentreThe Welcome Centre was still recovering from COVID and a lot of ourgatherings, especially during the summer, were held in the garden by themain hall. During winter we gradually moved indoors only. We continued tokeep the windows and door leading to the garden open in order to opensafely. While this meant members and volunteers felt cold, increased flu and somelingering COVID meant that we could only open if the space was properlyventilated and there was enough room in the drop-in centre to avoidovercrowding. We welcomed 399 individuals, served around 3500 meals andaveraged 50 - 90 people per week, but this was still down on pre-pandemic levels.We ran 120 ESOL sessions for 47 members as there was an increase inmembers wanting English, Maths and IT. We worked with other organisationsso our members could attend additional classes, especially English. In theearly part of this year we made contact with Curo Group who teach Englishand Maths. This was really beneficial to our members as Curo group wasable to provide individual support to those who needed it. They ran two different sessions for different members with an average of 6-7 who attended both. For sport, we sent our members to Borderlands whohad an agreement with Easton Leisure Centre. We also collaborated withother places like Simms Hill Farm so our members could volunteer there, learning to grow various fruits and vegetables and sharing the food thatthey grew with other members. In May 2022, we hired a Kitchen Coordinator and as a result we began toget more consistency in the kitchen, rather than relying on membervolunteers to cook according to their availability. We inducted and trained a number of member volunteers to take onadditional roles such as reception desk, sewing and helping in the clear upand maintenance of the drop-in on a Monday. During this period we alsohad members who were trained in how to fix bikes and assisted othermembers who had issues with their bikes.

Welcome Centre BHN Kitchen Coordinator Annual ReportThis report outlines the key accomplishments, challenges, and communityengagement initiatives.Operations and Diverse Menu:In this period, BHN kitchen successfully coordinated catering for anaverage of 80 members. We diversified our menu, offering an array of SriLankan, Bengali, Ghanaian, Lebanese, and Syrian dishes, further enrichedby FareShare supplies. Our commitment to quality has been consistent.Volunteer Training and Safety:An essential focus has been volunteer training. We've equipped ourvolunteers with industry-level, large-scale cooking skills and Level TwoFood Hygiene Certificates, ensuring they meet the required qualificationsand bring valuable experience to our kitchen.Environmental Initiatives:In line with our sustainability goals, we've introduced recycling practicesand encouraged the use of reusable containers for takeaways. Ourdedication to environmental responsibility extends beyond our menu.

EDI & Social EnterpriseMoveable FeastBHN Moveable Feast events have been a resounding success. We've implementedpremium and moderate pricing strategies, achieving sustainability and profitability.During this year, we served an impressive 1,000 people, all of whom consistentlypraised the quality of our food.Fundraising and Community Support:An outstanding achievement was the fundraising event sponsored by BristolDefend Asylum Seeker Campaign, which raised a remarkable £2,000. Thisunderscores the generous support and community engagement we've cultivated.Community Engagement:BHN Moveable Feast has catered for a diverse range of organisations and events,including Hill House, Simmons and Simmons' 10th Business Anniversary, Bridge TrustFundraiser, Chagford Feast, Save Life, Rachel Bee’s Birthday Celebration, MaziProject, and the BDASC Fundraiser for BHN. These engagements have greatlyexpanded our reach and presence in the community.Member and Client Feedback:Our success has been validated by the consistently positive feedback we'vereceived from clients. The reputation we've earned has led to a continuous streamof referrals and recommendations.Our EDI project started to take shape in March 22 as the training for the CommunityEngagement Team (CET) began. The CET were trained for 4 weeks coveringinterview skills and confidence building. They also assisted in devising surveyquestions for the BHN member Survey. We explored why Member Voice at BHN hadpreviously not worked and what needed to change. They felt that having people tointerview members in their own language and in an informal setting worked betterthan asking members at BHN, as the language barrier was also a really importantissue. The team felt that our surveys felt similar to Home Office interviews. Therefore,we tried adapting the way we questioned our members but also taking into accountthat whilst this may be what is appropriate to members, it may not necessarily bewhat funders would want/need. We also managed to acquire Aspire Training for oneof our CET members who later became a Co-Chair of our board of trustees. We sent2 further members on VOSCUR training on How to Be a Good Board Member. We received support from Lloyds Bank Foundation to develop our EDI strategy andplan. Following discussions, the CET was scrapped and the Advisory Board wascreated, as the role of the CET was very limited. The CET became the Advisory Board,and a Terms of Reference for the Advisory Board was written in conjunction with theTrustees. What is clear is that the Advisory Board needs more training on Governance,understanding of how organisations operate in the UK and becoming a morestructured and functional group.

We continue to work with other partners in the city tostrengthen the sector and work more collaboratively. We arepart of Bristol Refugee and Asylum Seeker Partnership, 15Bristol-based organisations working together to improve andjoin up services for Asylum Seekers and Refugees. Thepressures on the sector are always increasing, and funding isbecoming more difficult to come by. By working together wecan ensure that vital services remain in place. As a partnership, we share good practice, learn from eachother, make a commitment to lived experience leadership toincrease the voices of refugees and asylum seekers. We areexploring joint funding opportunities and continuing to worktogether on referral pathways, providing drop-in and welcomecentres in Bristol. Between us, we provide services andsupport every day to an estimated 1500 asylum seekers in thecity waiting in hotels for their claims to be processed. As the backlog in claims begins to be addressed, it’s hard toanticipate how many of those will be refused. However, weanticipate a surge in numbers accessing our drop in andadvice services as the number of asylum seekers grows inBristol and the surrounding area. Sector and Partnership

Finances and FundraisingThe organisation finished the year with an operating deficit of£25,590. Overall, income rose by 16% in the financial year of2023 compared with the financial year 2022. Expenditureincreased by 20% (18% in 21/22), reflecting the ongoing growthin the activities of the charity in response to need. This includedan increase in our welcome centre costs due to re-opening thecentre after the Covid-19 closure, and an increase in staffingcosts with a growing team.We expect costs to increase by 25% next financial year due toMember Voice and EDI and the general rise in the cost of living.To meet these additional costs, we are increasing our fundraisingtarget. In addition, we have built up reserves in the current yearand expect to draw upon these in the year ahead to fund ourongoing activities. The organisation has continued to raise sufficient grants anddonations to cover operating costs to date. We have campaignsplanned and a strategy in place to raise the required funds toensure that the organisation can continue to operate and tomeet its financial obligations for at least the next 12 months andwith reasonable expectation for the foreseeable future. As such,BHN continues to operate as a going concern.A huge thank you to all those who have supported BHN financiallythis year, including The Burden Trust, The Big Give, Bristol CityCouncil, Lloyds Bank Foundation, John James Foundation, TheLeathersellers’ Company, Postcode Local Trust, Bristol ImpactFund, Chagford Community Trust, ESG Robinson charitable Trust,Tuixen Foundation and The West of England Sport Trust. Also, toour many, dedicated individual donors, particularly those whodonate regularly.

Finances & FundraisingExpenditure£264,406 Income£238,817Grants£146,424Donations£86,493Moveable Feast£5,900Income Total Income & Expenditure BHN House£55,542Welcome Centre £41,341Core Staff Costs£39,413Solidarity Payments£31,988Hosting Network£31,743Office and Admin£28,396Advice Team£21,173EDI7,686ExpenditureMoveable Feast£7122

“I first joined BHN as general support volunteer whichwas great as I got to see all of the different roles thatmake up the centre. I’ve learned so much, from FoodHygiene training, to understanding the UK asylumprocess better. The best part is working with thevolunteers and members — they are the most kind andcaring people you will ever meet. If you’re thinking aboutvolunteering, I couldn’t recommend BHN more.” AMYWe said goodbye to our founding director Rachel Bee in December2022. We would like to thank her for all her hard work and dedicationover the years. We would also like to thank our outgoing Chair SarahWebb and Trustee George Perry who both stood down in 2022. We are joined by new Chair James Collett, Secretary Hannah Large,Treasurer Anita Mawondo and new Trustees Kugathas Kugarajah, AsmaAkter, Emmanuel Kamuhanda and our new Director Mijanou Blech.We continue to be supported by our incredible team of volunteers, whosededication never ceases to amaze us.Staff, Trustees and VolunteersDespite all the challenges over the past year, including the cost of livingcrisis meaning that members need more support, we have managed to keepour focus and cater for more people. We would like to thank all staff,members and volunteers who not only enable us to continue, but also togrow. We look forward to the coming year and hope we are able to takeforward the experience of the past year.THE BHN TEAM TRUSTEES: Rhodri Jones, Rachel Short, Asma Akter, Sarah Webb, Laura Barrow, James CollettKugathas Kugarajah, Emmanuel Kamuhanda, Hannah Large, Anita Mawondo, Benjamin WhitnallREGISTERED CHARITY #1138498WWW.BHN.ORG.UK