IPPR report says uncertainty over right to remain, discrimination and possible loss of funding need to be tackled now

Roma migrants in the UK have been left in a state of deep insecurity following the vote to leave the European Union, a leading thinktank has found.

A report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) into the implications of Brexit for Roma communities found that the group faced “a triple whammy of challenges” following June’s referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU.

Uncertainty over the group’s right to remain in the UK, the fact that they have historically been victims of discrimination and prejudice across Europe and concerns that a large pot of EU funding designed to support them may be stopped were all cited as factors leaving Roma particularly vulnerable.

Estimates of the number of Roma in Britain range from 80,000 to 300,000 and some areas – including Govanhill in Glasgow, Page Hall in Sheffield, Normanton in Derby, and Loxford in the London borough of Redbridge – have seen an influx of Roma migrants since the EU’s enlargement in 2004 and 2007.

“Roma communities in the UK from central and eastern Europe face deep insecurity in the aftermath of the Brexit vote,” said Marley Morris, a research fellow at IPPR and the report’s author.

“Many are in precarious work with non-statutory employment agencies, experience sustained poverty, and live in substandard accommodation. They are therefore likely to be particularly vulnerable to any future changes to their current residency rights.”

The thinktank estimates that a total of £1.1bn in European structural funds for the 2014–2020 period is available to be used to promote Roma integration, and called on the government to make up any shortfall that occurs after Brexit.

“A large amount of targeted support for Roma communities is dependent on EU funding. Without this support, Roma communities will face greater barriers in accessing employment, education, and healthcare, and local services will be placed under further strain,” said Morris.

“But so far there has been little public discussion about how Brexit will affect Roma communities, despite estimates suggesting there are tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, of Roma migrants living in the UK.

“Central government needs to take action now – by clarifying the future rights of Roma migrants in the UK and explaining how EU funding to support this group will be adequately replaced.”

One of the report’s key recommendations was that local authorities with large Roma communities take proactive measures to mitigate any negative effects of Brexit on Roma communities. The thinktank recommends they “rally together” to make the case to national government for funding to support Roma communities and collect better data on Roma living in their areas.

“We assert that taking action only at crisis point – for instance, at the point of homelessness or at the height of community tensions – places unnecessary pressures on public services and proves costlier in the long run than investing in early-stage interventions,” the report reads.

In 2013, David Blunkett, the former Labour home secretary and MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, caused controversy when he said tensions between local people and Roma migrants in the Page Hall area of the city could escalate into rioting unless action was taken to improve integration.

In an interview with BBC Radio Sheffield, Blunkett accused the government of “burying their head in the sand” over the scale of Roma settlement in the UK and said he feared a repeat of the violence that erupted between Asian and white youths in Bradford and other cities in 2001.