Can time-banking prefigure a solidarity economy for asylum seekers?

An action-research project examining how the the creation of a voluntary economy, between asylum seekers and the general UK population, can prefigure the right-to-work. To interpret the efficacy of time-banking as an intervention, Ashley will create a national, long-distance time bank, which will operate as a method to exchange services between those with the right-to-work, and those without.

It is hypothesised that this will foster solidarity between different communities; resistance against the right-to-work ban and empowerment, through the reclamation of time for those navigating the asylum system.

The research intends examine how time-banking may improve the wellbeing, social connectedness, self-reliance and integration of participants, through prefiguring an alternate economy in which asylum seekers are permitted to work.