VOLUNTEERING & IMMIGRATION: RESPONSE TO THE UK GOVERNMENT WHITE PAPER

Should volunteering play a role in points-based citizenship policies?

In light of the UK Government’s recent White Paper on Immigration, Prof. Matt Baillie Smith (Northumbria University) and I share our thoughts in a new piece in Space and Polity:

Immigration and contested politics of volunteering as ‘good behaviour’

We review the legacy of this idea, why making it workable is a problem, and what the consequences could be.

Here’s the full abstract:

Following the release of the UK Government’s recent White Paper on Immigration (2025), this provocation critically reflects on the role of points-based contributions, voluntary service and ‘good character’ within this policy landscape. We importantly identify a collision of geographies centred on mobilities, volunteering, citizenship, character, belonging, displacement and professionalization in both the White Paper and the immediate response to this publication by various actors. This entangling of experiences, histories and beliefs re-works meanings and practices to produce and police particular ideas of what and who is ‘good’. We contest and caution against the temptation to co-opt volunteering into citizenship decisions, mapping the potential consequences of these proposals in the context of the UK’s hostile environment and wider global trends.

You can read the full paper, free open access, here.