For my Leadership- in- Action project this summer, I worked with Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID) as a caseworker and policy researcher. BID is a non-profit organisation that has been working for over 20 years to ultimately end the use of immigration detention in the UK. The organisation can be split into two parts, both of which I had the opportunity to participate in. Their Casework team is split into four teams: DIY, Right to Liberty, Prison and Family who work on bail applications for those currently being detained. The Policy and Fundraising team aims to influence detention policy and practice through research and raising funds to support this work. 

I had the chance to work as a caseworker for the majority of my time there and it involved me having direct contact with our clients, mostly through the advice telephone line. Normally, the calls would consist of the client asking for updates on their case or advice for what to do next given their circumstances and me answering to the best of my ability. As the weeks went on and I became more competent in helping the clients, I started to work on bail applications. Initial stages involved writing case summaries and contacting the client to ask them questions regarding their case, then I had the chance to edit the bail grounds (the main body of an application) someone else had written. I found this to be especially helpful as it allowed me to understand the basic knowledge needed before I began to work on my own applications. During my time there I assisted in completing tens of applications and submitted a couple that were written completely by me, which helped me evaluate my performance in the role. 

Another key aspect of the role was that I had the chance to work in collaboration with the legal director of the organisation to write two reports. The first report we worked on was a briefing document to the then newly elected MPs titled ‘Access to Justice’. The document was a part of multiple others written by different charities, focusing on making the justice system more accessible. Our report, although encouraging the end of detention, offered multiple short term fixes for the system which again allowed me to further my knowledge on the UK immigration system. In this report I suggested and created visual aids for our policy proposal which allowed the readers to gain a concise understanding. I believe that this had the direct impact of an increase in the use of visual aids in the charity’s publications. The second report was ‘The BID Position Paper: Ending immigration detention in the UK, August 2024’ where I wrote down, with guidance from the legal director, the current stance the charity takes on immigration detention. 

Working with the legal director allowed me to observe a different style of leadership from my previous experiences. When giving me the task of writing these reports he tended to give me a detailed explanation but also managed to give me a lot of creative liberty. I found that this style of leadership allowed me to develop my skills better as it was much more engaging for me than following a simple set of instructions. It also allowed me to learn more as I had to take the initiative. For example, I was sent over 40 different documents as background reading for the first report and was told to read as much as I needed to be able to write the report. By providing the resources and highlighting the important ones, the instructions were clear but as I was given the space to explore I ended up doing so and read everything sent to me. 

Overall, the Leadership-in-Action programme was an amazing learning experience for me. Both in what I learnt about leadership and what I was able to learn about the immigration system in the UK. It allowed me to become more passionate for a possible future career in law. The team I worked with was one filled with experts in the field who were so passionate about their work that it was inspiring.