The roundtable, which was held on 3 June 2025 at Friend’s House in Euston, was a powerful and productive event bringing together women with lived experience, policymakers from NHS England and the Department for Health and Social Care, and researchers (pictured below).
Led by ARC South London researchers at King’s College London, the No Recourse to Public Funds (NoRePF) project is exploring the long-term health and social outcomes of pregnant migrants and their children who are living in the UK with no entitlement to most welfare support.
The Migration and Maternal Health (MAMAH) study, which is being carried out by researchers at the University of Oxford and University College London, including researchers at NIHR ARC North Thames, aims to improve pregnancy care for underserved migrants in the UK by gathering the latest evidence and expert input. Both projects are funded by the NIHR.
The roundtable provided space to explore current policy, build relationships, and begin shaping future research and policy priorities. Women attending shared their experiences of migration to the UK, maternity and interactions with health and social care services. Delegates joined in person, via video and through interactive platforms, sparking emotional and impactful discussions.
This event highlighted the need to create psychologically safe opportunities for all stakeholders to engage, co-explore challenges and co-create solutions. By courageously sharing their life stories, experts by experience demonstrated that authentic stories can amplify data, improve research practices and help pave the way to more relevant and humane migration and maternal health policies
Experts by experience shared with policymakers and researchers the profound impact of language barriers, housing instability, and NHS charging on migrant women’s maternity care. Women spoke of feeling pressured to consent to care they didn’t fully understand, living in deep poverty, and lacking access to childcare, mental health support and culturally safe services. The event called for a more compassionate, equitable system that values continuity of care, improves interpretation and recognises the strengths migrant women bring
Support was available throughout, including reminders about self-care, an offer of psychological debriefing and signposting to relevant networks.
Experts by experience expressed a strong desire to “do this again”, and policymakers welcomed the opportunity for continued collaboration. ARC South London researcher, Dr Rayment-Jones, said insights from the event will shape ongoing research and collaboration with policymakers. A follow-up policy lab is planned for 2026 to share research findings.