Evaluation of the Go HOME campaign, 29 September 2013
Deadline 11 October 2013
Updated 31 October with the Home Office “evaluation” report with the Home Office evaluation and the Advertising Standards Agency ruling.
Catherine Cook of UK At the last meeting of NASF on 9th September, Tom Carney from Immigration Enforcement (IE) Communications attended to talk about the recent voluntary departure projects that have been taking place over the Summer. Members were offered the opportunity to provide feedback and comments, that would form part of the evaluation of these projects. Further information (along with some background for those not present at the meeting) has been provided by IE Communications colleagues and is below:
Background to the reporting centre pilot
As you are all aware the Home Secretary split UKBA in March to form two separate agencies with different cultures. UK Immigration and Visas, which is customer focused, linking to the grow agenda and promoting visas overseas and Immigration Enforcement (IE), which concentrates on enforcing the Immigration Rules and removing those that have no right to be in the UK.
As part of this new department IE Communications were asked to develop a number of plans to increase the visibility of our work and promote voluntary departure as a whole.
This resulted in a number of projects, of which three have been implemented so far:
Vehicle livery – to raise our profile and visibility within the communities in which we work.
- Vaken – which used field intelligence to identify areas we could impact. There were then two approaches. One was community engagement with leaflets and posters in retail outlets and community centres, and the other was above the line mobile billboards. This was then reported in the local and national media.
- Reporting centres – which was a targeted approach providing more information about the support and advice available to reporting centre users.
The reporting centre pilot
In order to encourage increased take-up of voluntary departure the Home Office implemented a pilot in two of its reporting centres; Glasgow and Hounslow. The pilot commenced on 29 July 2013 and will end on 4 October 2013, and involved working with staff to develop messaging and material to promote voluntary return. We focused on reporting centres as reportees have irregular immigration status.
As part of the pilot we have replaced and updated the material on display in both centres. The material is designed to assure people that we can provide sensitive advice and assistance to help them return home easily and with dignity. The messaging reads:
- We can help you return home
- Is life in the UK what you expected? You can choose to go home
- Is life here hard? Going home is simple.
- This plane can take you home, we can book your tickets
- Ask about going home
- Going home is as easy as 1.2.3
1. Speak to a member of staff
2. We can book your ticket
3. You can return to your family and friends
Glasgow and Hounslow were chosen for these pilots as both have similar footfall but a very different demographic.
As part of the pilot we have also appointed a returns officer who has been talking the to reportees about returning home and collecting feedback on the messaging and approach.
Evaluation of the reporting centre pilot
To evaluate the messaging we speaking to reportees and gathering insight to inform future communication plans.
As part of our evaluation, we would also be grateful for your views on the messaging and approach – in particular:
- Your comments on the actual language used in material.
- Feedback from clients about the material and approach – including where possible the immigration status of the client.
- Suggested future approaches including where necessary/possible a partnership approach.
For address to which to send comments see further resources page below. Deadline 11 October.
- Document Date
- 2013-09-26
- Issue Number
- 13.09.21034