Four Feather Mews | 89 Fieldgate Street | London E1 1DH Tel 020 7 377 5791 | e info@kazuri.org.uk

To The Leader, Coventry City Council

Cllr John Mutton The Council House

Earl Street

Coventry

CV1 5RR March 12 2013

Via e mail and First Class Post

Dear Sir

We write on behalf of XXXXXXXXXXX, currently residing in a G4S managed property in Coventry.

XXXXXXXXXX has been in touch via Support Solutions, the charity. Kazuri is a social enterprise which

works with vulnerable women, women heading homeless families and women on licence in the

community.

She writes: “We are living in a property in coventry being run by G4s, we are family of 4....we have

been only given two wardrobes...we asked for more 5 months ago, and whenever we contact our

casworker...he has many excuses... We had so far got rid of 20 mices in our house....my 2 young

children are so scared....we asked him for treatment of mice...he came 1 day and gave us 1 glue

trap... We have so far spent more thn 20 pounds on this issue...bt still everyday we find more. Our

toilet light is broken for last 1 week..he cant come, as he says its not an emergency..... “

We are appalled by the situation in which XXXXXXXXXX finds herself and her children. The children

will already be suffering from extreme trauma, from the little we know about XXXXXXXXXXXX case

and to further subject them to living in a vermin infested house is not acceptable. This pours shame

on British society in a damning indictment of how we look after our weakest and most vulnerable.

We understand that XXXXXXXXXXX has sought help and support from G4S but the caseworker is

always busy, which means he has an extraordinary caseload or is not doing his job. Either way, G4S

have won a substantial contract to safely house asylum seekers and this treatment falls short not

only of their contractual requirements but also of the family’s basic human right to live in decent

accommodation under The Housing Act and Human Rights legislation. G4S was one of three firms

awarded six contracts worth a total of £620m over seven years by UKBA for housing asylum seekers -

undercutting several experienced public and voluntary sector consortia. They should not be given

contracts if they cannot deliver them. Their only specialism appears to be terrorising, torturing and

inflicting more trauma to already traumatised and vulnerable women.

We urge you to look into this matter urgently and without delay and to please do whatever needs to

be done to force repairs by the contractor G4S, which is extracting profitable contracts from the

government funded by the taxpayer under frankly fraudulent bids, and not providing the services for

which they are commissioned. We are looking into whether G4S are fit to handle this lucrative

contract, to provide asylum seekers with decent accommodation, with the UK Border Authority and

whether it can be judicially reviewed as this is not the only example of poor accommodation being

Four Feather Mews | 89 Fieldgate Street | London E1 1DH Tel 020 7 377 5791 | e info@kazuri.org.uk

forced upon vulnerable families. Whilst we accept that the Local Authority did not have anything to

do with the contract with G4S, we would urge you to kindly bring a member’s inquiry as to why a

constituent family is being forced to live in these circumstances. I have written to our local MP,

Rushanara Ali and also to the Managing Director of G4S and I await the outcome of our complaint.

On their own website G4S state : “Societies cannot thrive and prosper if people are not safe and

secure.”

We do not consider putting a family into accommodation which does need the minimum standards

of decent homes providing safety or security . They fall short by their own standards.

Please contact me so I can provide you with the details of this family in distress.

Thank you for your assistance

Yours sincerely

Joe Crane

Head of Housing Policy

CC Right Honourable Theresa May, Home Secretary

Rushanara Ali, MP for Bow and Bethnall Green

Stephen Small, Managing Director of G4S Immigration and Borders

Tony Smith CBE, Interim Director General, UK Border Force