Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) in Wales
April 12, 2023
In December, Housing Justice Cymru (HJC) became aware that people seeking asylum in Wales were being refused shelter during severe weather, forcing them to sleep on the streets in temperatures as low as minus 8 degrees. We decided to pay for hotel rooms for these individuals as a short-term measure.
Recognising that this refusal was not in alignment with Welsh Government Nation of Sanctuary commitments, we approached Local Authorities, civil servants and Ministers to raise their concerns about the risk to life and breach of the Human Rights Act.
Despite our efforts, individuals continued to be turned away from shelters during severe weather and so we repeated requests for the Welsh Government to investigate this.
On 7th March, we were contacted by senior Welsh Government officials who announced that they had changed their guidance and written to all Local Authorities on this matter. While this is a welcome step forward, we believe that the wording of the guidance is ambiguous and could cause uncertainty for those on the ground trying to implement it, leading to people being refused access to shelter during extreme weather conditions again and have asked that the guidance be further clarified.
We have also commissioned a piece of research from Dr Rebecca Jackson at Cardiff Metropolitan University regarding providing shelter during extreme weather. This will be completed prior to the extreme heat period in the summer and HJC plans to use this to inform best practice and influence Welsh Government to put clear legal or policy expectations in place for LAs.