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BRIEFING PAPER

Number 1909, 14 October 2015

'Asylum support': accommodation and financial support for asylum seekers

By Melanie Gower

Inside: 1. Dealing with asylum support

casework: Some useful sources

2. Entitlements whilst waiting for an asylum decision

3. Entitlements if asylum is granted

4. Entitlements if asylum is refused

5. Rights of appeal if asylum support is refused or withdrawn

6. Government proposals to change asylum support entitlements

7. Further reading: Recent parliamentary interest, reports, etc.

Number 1909, 14 October 2015 2

Contents Summary 3

1. Dealing with asylum support casework: Some useful sources 4

2. Entitlements whilst waiting for an asylum decision 5 2.1 Accommodation and financial support 5

The new asylum support rates from 10 August 2015 7 2.2 Exceptions to eligibility for asylum support 10 2.3 Other entitlements 10 2.4 Employment restrictions 11

3. Entitlements if asylum is granted 12

4. Entitlements if asylum is refused 13 4.1 Section 4 support if there is a temporary barrier to departure 13 4.2 Section 95 support for households with children under 18 14 4.3 Support from local authorities 15

5. Rights of appeal if asylum support is refused or withdrawn 16

6. Government proposals to change asylum support entitlements 17 6.1 Immigration Bill 2015 – 16 17 6.2 Devolving asylum support powers to Scotland 18

7. Further reading: Recent parliamentary interest, reports, etc. 19

Cover page image copyright: DSC_6742 by Philippa Willitts. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 / image cropped.

3 'Asylum support': accommodation and financial support for asylum seekers

Summary

At a glance

Destitute asylum seekers can apply to UK Visas & Immigration for financial and/or accommodation support until they receive a final decision on their asylum claim (‘asylum support’).

Accommodation is provided on a no-choice basis, generally away from London and the south-east of the UK.

A new standard rate of asylum cash support (£36.95 per person per week) took effect from 10 August 2015. This is a substantial reduction in support for single parents and families with children.

Asylum support is terminated once a final decision has been made on an asylum application (i.e. when there are no further appeal rights). Asylum seekers granted permission to remain in the UK become eligible to work and access mainstream welfare benefits. Refused asylum seekers are expected to leave the UK. They have few support options, although some may be eligible for a more limited form of cashless support (known as ‘section 4 support’) if the Home Office accepts that there are temporary barriers to their departure. The Immigration Bill 2015-16 proposes replacing section 4 support with a new category of support for refused asylum seekers who face a “genuine obstacle” to leaving the UK. It also proposes significant new restrictions on refused families’ ongoing eligibility for asylum support.

Asylum seekers are not eligible for mainstream welfare benefits. Instead, if they are destitute, they can apply to UK Visas and Immigration for accommodation and/or financial support (‘asylum support’). As a general rule, asylum seekers are not allowed to work whilst they are waiting for an asylum decision.

Accommodation is provided on a no-choice basis, generally outside London and the south-east of the UK, under the longstanding ‘dispersal’ policy.

In previous years asylum support rates have varied according to the claimants’ ages and household compositions. Since 10 August 2015 a new standard rate has applied to all adults and children, resulting households with children receiving a lower amount of support than before. The Government says that they can make use of economies of scale.

Asylum support is terminated once a final decision has been made on an asylum application (i.e. when there are no further appeal rights). Asylum seekers granted permission to remain in the UK become eligible to work and access mainstream welfare benefits. Refused asylum seekers are expected to leave the UK. They have few support options, although some may be eligible for a more limited form of cashless support (known as ‘section 4 support’) if the Home Office accepts that there are temporary barriers to their departure. The Immigration Bill 2015-16 would make changes to this.

Local authorities are responsible for support to unaccompanied asylum seeking children. They have very limited duties to support destitute adults subject to immigration control who have care needs.

This note provides a brief summary of the asylum support arrangements and recent scrutiny reports. Other Library briefings on asylum, including those on Viral emails protesting about financial assistance for “illegal immigrants/refugees living in Britain” and People from abroad: what benefits can they claim? might be of interest.

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1. Dealing with asylum support casework: Some useful sources

• The Asylum support section on the GOV.UK website includes a summary of asylum seekers’ entitlements, including financial and accommodation support, the eligibility criteria, and how to apply or appeal against a refusal of support.

• Migrant Help is a registered charity funded by the Home Office to provide national asylum advice services to adult asylum seekers. The Asylum Help section on Migrant Help’s website includes information about the asylum support system, multilingual information and guidance for asylum seekers, and details of how they can access Asylum Help’s services. The contact details for Asylum Help’s Asylum Support Application UK helpline for asylum seekers are also listed on the Asylum Helplines page on GOV.UK.

• Home Office operational policy guidance for its officials about issues related to asylum support can be found in the Home Office’s collection of Asylum Support (Asylum Instructions) policy guidance documents, available from GOV.UK.

• Library standard note Constituency casework: immigration, nationality and asylum includes details of the Home Office’s dedicated MPs’ correspondence channels which can be used by MPs to make representations or enquiries about individual cases, as well as details of other asylum charities and sources of advice.

• The Immigration statistics quarterly release tables, available from GOV.UK, include information about applications for section 95 and section 4 asylum support.

5 'Asylum support': accommodation and financial support for asylum seekers

Accommodation is offered on a no-choice basis, generally outside of London and the south-east

Asylum seekers are not eligible for mainstream welfare benefits

Around 30,000 asylum seekers and dependants were receiving asylum support whilst their asylum claims were being processed, as at March 2015

2. Entitlements whilst waiting for an asylum decision

2.1 Accommodation and financial support Asylum seekers are not eligible for mainstream welfare benefits.

Instead, under section 95 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (‘the 1999 Act’), destitute individuals who submit an asylum application “as soon as reasonably practicable” after arriving in the UK can apply for accommodation and/or financial support from UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI, a Home Office directorate) whilst their claim is being decided.1

Section 95(3) of the 1999 Act defines destitution:

For the purposes of this section, a person is destitute if—

(a) he does not have adequate accommodation or any means of obtaining it (whether or not his other essential living needs are met); or

(b) he has adequate accommodation or the means of obtaining it, but cannot meet his other essential living needs.

In order to be able to satisfy the ‘destitution test’, initial applicants must not have adequate accommodation or money to meet their expenses within the next fortnight.2

The Immigration statistics quarterly release tables, available from GOV.UK, include information about applications for asylum support:

At the end of March 2015, 30,476 asylum seekers and their dependants were being supported under Section 95. This figure has increased each quarter since the end of September 2012, but is still considerably below the figure for the end of 2003 (the start of the published data series), when there were 80,123 asylum seekers in receipt of Section 95.

Provision of accommodation: the dispersal policy Accommodation is provided to asylum seekers by private providers contracted to provide the services on behalf of the Home Office. Accommodation is offered on a no-choice basis, generally in areas outside of London and the south-east, in accordance with the longstanding ‘dispersal’ policy. A 2014 National Audit Office report summarises the process:

Dispersal of asylum seekers

1.4 The Department first places eligible asylum seekers in hostel-style accommodation (known as ‘initial accommodation’) on a short-term basis while they make an application for financial assistance to the Department. Most asylum seekers make their initial claim at the asylum screening unit in Croydon, although the Department’s policy is not to provide accommodation in London

1 Whilst waiting for a decision on the support application, temporary full-board or self-catering accommodation can be provided under section 98 of the 1999 Act.

2 Asylum Support Regulations 2000, SI 2000/704 (as amended)

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Financial support is provided in cash, collected weekly from Post Offices

unless there are exceptional circumstances, such as, ongoing medical needs. Instead, the Department allocates asylum seekers to one of the six COMPASS regions, and the relevant accommodation provider transports asylum seekers to initial accommodation within this region.

1.5 The provider arranges to move asylum seekers to more permanent dispersal accommodation once the Department has assessed and confirmed their eligibility for support. Figure 1 shows the process in more detail. Providers must propose a property to the Department within five days, and should normally complete the dispersal process within nine days. Dispersal accommodation is typically a flat or shared house in which the asylum seeker is provided with bedding and basic kitchen equipment as well as basic furniture and access to cooking and washing facilities. The type of property asylum seekers are allocated depends on a number of factors, such as whether they have children living with them.3

It goes on to discuss the role of local authorities:

Restrictions on dispersal

1.6 Dispersal accommodation is located in particular areas in the community where the local authority has agreed to take asylum seekers up to a defined cluster limit (defined as an assumption that there will be no more than one asylum seeker per 200 residents, based on the 2001 census figures for population). In some areas local authorities have agreed a variation to this arrangement with the Department. Not all local authorities currently participate. Dispersal arrangements are subject to ongoing monitoring and review by the Department.

1.7 Under the terms of the COMPASS contracts, contractors are required to consider a range of social cohesion, housing and community factors alongside cost when proposing properties to be used for dispersal accommodation for asylum seekers. These factors include:

• the availability and concentration of accommodation;

• the capacity of local health, education and other support services; and

• the level of risk of increased social tension if the number of asylum seekers increases within a given area.

These factors are monitored by local authorities, who have the right to withdraw existing consent for specific properties to be used for asylum seeker accommodation or reject new proposals if there are any specific concerns, for example around community cohesion.4

Provision of cash support Financial support is provided in cash, collected weekly from Post Offices using the ‘Application Registration Card’ (‘ARC card’) which is issued to asylum seekers early in the asylum process as confirmation of their identity and immigration conditions.

3 National Audit Office, COMPASS contracts for the provision of accommodation for asylum seekers, HC 880 2013-14

4 National Audit Office, COMPASS contracts for the provision of accommodation for asylum seekers, HC 880 2013-14

7 'Asylum support': accommodation and financial support for asylum seekers

From August 2015, weekly asylum support will be £36.95 per person (adult or child)

Single parents and households with children will be most affected by the new rate

The Asylum Support Regulations 2000 (as amended) provide for the amounts of cash to be paid to destitute asylum seekers and their dependants.5

The asylum support system was originally modelled on the Income Support structure, which provides for different benefit rates depending on the applicant’s age. However over the years the link with Income Support has gradually broken. For example, the higher asylum support rate for over 25s was abolished in 2009.6

During passage of what became the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, the then government stated an intention “to make regular annual reviews of the level at which support is to be provided to asylum seekers”.7 Successive governments have tended to conduct annual internal reviews of rates and uprate them in line with inflation through regulations, but there is no statutory obligation to do so.

Asylum seekers must sign an ‘asylum support agreement’ document signalling their acceptance of the terms and conditions attached to the support. Support may be stopped if they do not keep to the conditions.8

The new asylum support rates from 10 August 2015 Controversial changes to asylum support rates are due to take effect on 10 August.

The changes will introduce a single weekly rate of asylum support (£36.95 per adult or child). This is a significant change for certain categories of asylum seeker. Previously, asylum support has been paid at different rates, depending on the claimants’ ages and household compositions. It is already the case that asylum support is paid to eligible refused asylum seekers at a flat rate (£35.39 per week).

The new standard rate is the same as the amount currently paid to single adult asylum seekers. But it represents a substantial reduction in support for single parents and families with children. For example, the weekly asylum support rate for children under 16 is currently £52.96.

The Home Office has prepared a table illustrating the impact of the changes on certain households:

Single Parent +1 Child

Single Parent +2 Children

Couple + 1 child

Couple + 2 children

Current payment £96.90 £149.86 £125.48 178.44

New Payment £73.90 £110.85 £110.85 £147.80

As in previous years, extra payments will be paid to pregnant women and children under three for healthy food. A one-off maternity

5 Asylum Support Regulations 2000, SI 2000/704 (as amended), regulation 10 6 Asylum Support (Amendment) (No.2) Regulations 2009, SI 2009/1388 (Explanatory

Memorandum, para 7.4) 7 HL Deb 20 October 1999 c1164 8 Asylum Support Regulations 2000, SI 200/704 (as amended), regulation 20

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The Government says that the new rate will reflect economies of scale available to households, in line with the approach taken in other EU states

payment will remain available to women due to give birth within eight weeks or who have a baby under six weeks old.9

Why are the changes being made?

The changes reflect the outcome of an internal Home Office review. This concluded that families were receiving more cash support to meet their essential living needs than they need, because the existing rates do not reflect the possibility of economies of scale within households.

The Explanatory Memorandum to the regulations briefly summaries how the review was carried out:

7.4 The review conducted earlier this year considered the impact of these payment levels on family households. The review was conducted using a methodology developed in 2014 to take account of the findings by the High Court following a judicial review of the way a previous review had been conducted.

7.5 The general approach was to identify all essential needs (for example the need to eat healthily) and assess the amount of money required to meet the particular need. The assessment used various sources of information, including data published by the Office for National Statistics relating to household expenditure by the lowest 10% income group among the UK population.

7.6 The conclusion of the review was that the payments provided under current arrangements result in families receiving significantly more cash than is necessary to meet their essential living needs. This is mainly because, in addition to the payments for the parents, a sum of £52.96 is usually paid for every child in the household (£39.80 if the child is between 16 or 17 years of age). This payment methodology provides more than enough to cover the needs of individual children and takes no account of the economies of scale available to the household as a whole. (…)

It goes on to state that the changes will bring the UK’s asylum support arrangements closer in line with practice in some other EU states, which already take account of economies of scale available to households (notably Sweden, Germany and France). It states that the changes will mean that a family of four asylum seekers in the UK will receive roughly the same amount of cash support as they would in Sweden.

This is the second time that the Home Office have laid regulations to introduce a standard rate for asylum support. In March 2015 the then Government laid similar regulations, but they were revoked before they were scheduled to take effect.10

Initial reactions from asylum/refugee charities

The change in asylum support rates has been condemned by several asylum/refugee charities. They have long argued that asylum support rates, which have mostly been frozen since April 2011, have been inadequate to cater for asylum seekers’ essential needs. The charities have warned that the new standard rate will have a “devastating impact” on supported families, and put more vulnerable families into poverty.

9 GOV.UK, Asylum support (last updated 22 April 2015) 10 Asylum Support (Amendment) Regulations 2015, SI 2015/645, revoked and replaced

by Asylum Support (Amendment No.2) Regulations 2015, SI 2015/944

9 'Asylum support': accommodation and financial support for asylum seekers

Most asylum support rates have been frozen since April 2011

The Refugee Council has called on the Government to commission an independent review of asylum support rates, but the Government has confirmed that it has no plans to do so.

Parliamentary scrutiny of the changes

The changes are being made through regulations, which were laid before Parliament on 16 July.11 The regulations are due to be approved under the negative resolution procedure (i.e. they will automatically become law, but could be revoked if either House votes against them).

Previous asylum support rates (April 2011 – August 2015) Asylum support rates remained the same for most categories of asylum seeker between 18 April 2011 and 9 August 2015. They were periodically reviewed during this time but the then Government remained satisfied that they were adequate for meeting destitute asylum seekers’ essential living needs.12

The only change was a slight adjustment to the rate for single adult asylum seekers in April 2015 (from £36.62 to £36.95), as reflected in the table below:13

Weekly payment

Married couple or couple in civil partnership

£72.52

Lone parent aged 18 or over £43.94

Single person aged 18 or over £36.95

Aged 16 to 18 £39.80

Aged under 16 £52.96

Legal challenge to frozen asylum support rates The charity Refugee Action sought a judicial review of the Home Office’s decision to leave the asylum support rates for 2013/14 unchanged.

In April 2014 the High Court found that the Home Office’s approach had been flawed.14 It instructed the Home Office to retake the decision in line with guidance given its judgment.

In August 2014 the Home Office confirmed that it had conducted a review but remained satisfied that the 2013/14 level of asylum support should remain unchanged.15

11 Asylum Support (Amendment No.3) Regulations 2015, SI 2015/1501 12 HC Deb 6 June 2013 119WS 13 Asylum Support (Amendment) Regulations 2011, SI 2011/907; Asylum Support (Amendment No.2) Regulations 2015, SI 2015/944 14 [2014] EWHC 1033 (Admin)

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Local authorities are responsible for supporting unaccompanied asylum seeking children

However, it signalled that it was considering future options for aligning the different rates for children below 18.16 Its review had concluded that there was no clear rationale for older children receiving a lower rate of support than under 16s, but also that there was no evidence that it had resulted in households receiving an insufficient total amount of support.

2.2 Exceptions to eligibility for asylum support

Under section 55 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, asylum seekers are not entitled to support whilst their asylum application is under consideration if they are found not to have applied for asylum “as soon as reasonably practicable”. However, there are exceptions for families, people with special needs and cases where a refusal of support would be a breach of the individual’s human rights.17

Local authorities, rather than UKVI, are responsible for providing support to unaccompanied asylum seeker children under the Children Act 1989 or Children (Scotland) Act 1995).18

Local authorities’ duties to support destitute adults subject to immigration control who have a care need, such as under the National Assistance Act 1948, are limited. They are not obliged to provide support to all foreign nationals facing destitution. For example, section 54 and Schedule 3 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 exclude certain categories of foreign national from eligibility for assistance, including refused asylum seekers who have not cooperated with removal directions and persons unlawfully in the UK. The No Recourse to Public Funds Network works with and on behalf of local authorities on these issues. It has produced a briefing which explains how local authorities should approach assessing whether they have a duty to support.19 The Asylum Support Appeals Project (a charity that provides legal advice and representation in asylum support cases) also has a factsheet on local authorities’ duties.20

2.3 Other entitlements Asylum seekers are eligible for free NHS healthcare and may be eligible for free prescriptions, free dental care, free eyesight tests and vouchers for glasses.

Asylum seeker children have the same entitlement to state education as other children and may be eligible for free school meals.

15 Home Office correspondence to National Asylum Stakeholder Forum, 11 August 2014 (available from Migrants Rights Network website, accessed 6 May 2015)

16 Home Office correspondence to National Asylum Stakeholder Forum, 11 August 2014 (available from Migrants Rights Network website, accessed 6 May 2015)

17 See Home Office, Asylum Support Policy Bulletin 75 ‘Section 55 guidance’ v.11 18 For further details, see Home Office, Asylum Process Guidance ‘Processing an asylum

application from a child’ v.6.0 19 NRPF Network, Practice Guidance for local authorities: Assessing and Supporting

Adults with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF), March 2015 20 ASAP, Factsheet 8 ‘Local Authority Assistance for Asylum Seekers and Refused

Asylum Seekers’, April 2014

11 'Asylum support': accommodation and financial support for asylum seekers

As a general rule, asylum seekers are not allowed to work whilst waiting for an asylum decision

2.4 Employment restrictions As a general rule, asylum seekers are not allowed to work whilst waiting for a decision on their asylum claim. However, they can apply for permission to work if they have waited for over 12 months for an initial decision on their asylum claim (from the date it was recorded), and are not considered responsible for the delay in decision-making.21

If granted, permission to work expires once the asylum claim has been finally determined (i.e. when all appeal rights are exhausted). Asylum seekers granted permission to work can only do jobs on the official shortage occupation list.

Refused asylum seekers cannot apply for permission to work, unless they have submitted further submissions for asylum and have waited for over 12 months for a decision on these.

Asylum seekers’ rights to work are discussed in greater detail in the Library briefing Should asylum seekers have unrestricted rights to work in the UK?

21 Home Office, Asylum Policy Instruction, ‘Permission to work’, v.6.0

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People granted asylum are allowed to work and claim mainstream welfare benefits

3. Entitlements if asylum is granted

Asylum support is terminated 28 days after a positive decision is made on the asylum application/appeal (i.e. if ‘Refugee status’, ‘Humanitarian Protection’ or ‘Discretionary Leave to Remain’ has been granted).

The person then becomes eligible to work in the UK without restrictions, and to claim mainstream welfare benefits on the same basis as British citizens. A Home Office/Department for Work and Pensions leaflet explains how they can access Department for Work and Pensions services.

People who are granted limited leave to remain on Article 8 grounds (i.e. if removal is considered to be a breach of their rights to respect for family/private life) are generally not eligible for public funds, unless the Home Office receives evidence of destitution or other compelling circumstances.

13 'Asylum support': accommodation and financial support for asylum seekers

Refused asylum seekers can access a more limited form of support, but only if a temporary obstacle to leaving the UK exists

Just under 5,000 refused asylum seekers and dependants were in receipt of support, as at the end of March 2015

4. Entitlements if asylum is refused

4.1 Section 4 support if there is a temporary barrier to departure

Asylum seekers who have been refused asylum and exhausted the appeals process cease to be eligible for asylum support under section 95 of the 1999 Act. Asylum support is terminated 21 days after the claim has been finally determined.22

In limited circumstances destitute refused asylum seekers can apply for a different type of support from UKVI (known as ‘section 4’ support), under the provisions set out in section 4 of the 1999 Act.23

Section 4 support is not given in cash. Instead, accommodation and an ‘Azure’ payment card is provided. The card is credited with £35.39 per person per week and can be used in specified retail outlets to buy food and essential toiletries. In some cases, full-board accommodation and essential toiletries may be provided instead of an Azure card. People in receipt of section 4 support can apply for certain additional services or facilities if needed (such as the cost of travel to a medical appointment).

The eligibility criteria for section 4 support are that the applicant is destitute and satisfies one or more of the following conditions:

(a) he is taking all reasonable steps to leave the United Kingdom or place himself in a position in which he is able to leave the United Kingdom, which may include complying with attempts to obtain a travel document to facilitate his departure;

(b) he is unable to leave the United Kingdom by reason of a physical impediment to travel or for some other medical reason;

(c) he is unable to leave the United Kingdom because in the opinion of the Secretary of State there is currently no viable route of return available;

(d) he has made an application for judicial review of a decision in relation to his asylum claim–

(e) the provision of accommodation is necessary for the purpose of avoiding a breach of a person’s Convention rights, within the meaning of the Human Rights Act 1998 (for example, because they have submitted further representations)24

As at the end of March 2015, 4,941 refused asylum seekers and dependants were in receipt of section 4 support. The Home Office has estimated that section 4 support cost around £28 million in 2014-15.25

22 Asylum Support Regulations 2000, SI 2000/704 (as amended), r2, 2A 23 Section 4 support can also be provided to certain other categories of migrant,

including people released from immigration detention or on immigration bail (including people who have not claimed asylum).

24 The Immigration and Asylum (Provision of Accommodation to Failed Asylum Seekers) Regulations 2005, SI 2005/930, r3

25 Home Office, Impact Assessment, Reforming support for failed asylum seekers and other illegal migrants, IA No Ho0195, p.4

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Powers to deny support to refused asylum seeker households with children have not been widely used

The limited nature of section 4 support is partly intended to reflect the fact that it is expected to be a temporary form of support, and to avoid creating an incentive for refused asylum seekers to remain in the UK.26

Nevertheless, some refused asylum seekers spend considerable lengths of time on section 4 support due to ongoing obstacles to their removal from the UK, such as difficulties in obtaining travel documentation acceptable to their country of origin. A PQ answered in June 2015 gave a breakdown of the length of time that section 4 recipients had been in receipt of support at that time:

Asylum: Finance: Written question - HL64

Asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people have received support under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 for more than (1) one year, (2) 5 years, and (3) 10 years.

Answered by: Lord Bates

As of 28 May the number of people who have been in receipt of asylum support can be found in the table below:

Years in receipt of Support - Number of people

Between 1 and 5 years - 3,330

Between 5 and 10 years - 295

More than 10 Years - 0

4.2 Section 95 support for households with children under 18

Refused asylum seeker households that include children (under 18 years old) who were born before a final decision was made on the asylum claim generally continue to receive asylum support under section 95 of the 1999 Act (i.e. the same as they received whilst waiting for a decision on the claim) until the youngest child turns 18 or the family is removed from the UK.27 The Government has recently estimated that, as of 31 March 2015, 2,900 families (around 10,100 people) were in receipt of section 95 support on this bases. Such support is estimated to have cost the Government £45 million in 2014-15.28

There are legislative powers which allow for the withdrawal of support from refused asylum seeker households with dependents under 18 years old.29 These have not been widely used, although the Government’s August 2015 consultation on asylum support reform (discussed in section 6 below) includes proposals to make more use of a revised version of these powers in the future.

26 HC Deb 16 September 2010 c1213W; HC Deb 11 December 2013 c222-3W 27 However, households including dependent children under 18 may receive section 4

support if the children were born after a final decision was made on the asylum claim. In certain circumstances, pregnant refused asylum seekers may also receive section 4 support.

28 Home Office, consultation, Reforming support for failed asylum seekers and other illegal migrants, August 2015, p.6

29 See, for example, Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, Etc.) Act 2004, s9, as discussed in Library briefing Immigration Bill 2015-16.

15 'Asylum support': accommodation and financial support for asylum seekers

4.3 Support from local authorities Schedule 3 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 prevents local authorities from providing support to refused asylum seekers who have not cooperated with removal directions and persons unlawfully in the UK, unless refusing support breaches their human rights. Refusing to provide support might not breach human rights, for example, if it is a viable option for the person to return to their country of origin.30

30 NRPF Network, Practice Guidance for local authorities: Assessing and Supporting Adults with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF), March 2015

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There is a right of appeal against decisions to refuse or withdraw asylum support

5. Rights of appeal if asylum support is refused or withdrawn

UKVI decisions to refuse or withdraw asylum support can be challenged by way of an appeal to the First-Tier Tribunal (Asylum Support). A notice of appeal must be lodged within 3 working days of receipt of a letter refusing support, and there are also short timescales for the consideration and determination of the appeal.31

The Tribunal is based in London. Appellants can request an oral hearing or have their appeal considered on the papers. When determining an appeal, Tribunal Judges can either request that UKVI reconsider its decision, substitute UKVI’s decision with one of their own, or dismiss the appeal. Decisions by Asylum Support Tribunal Judges can only be challenged by judicial review.

Legal aid is not available for asylum support appeals. The Asylum Support Appeals Project is a voluntary organisation which, amongst other services, provides some free legal advice and representation in relation to asylum support appeals. It also has some useful information on its website for asylum seekers and advisers about asylum support entitlements and rights of appeal.

31 Asylum Support Appeals (Procedure) (Amendment) Rules 2003, SI 2003/1735

17 'Asylum support': accommodation and financial support for asylum seekers

The Immigration Bill 2015-16 includes measures to further restrict refused asylum seekers’ eligibility for support, including refused family households

6. Government proposals to change asylum support entitlements

6.1 Immigration Bill 2015 – 16 Part 5 of the Immigration Bill 2015-16 would make changes to asylum support provisions in the 1999 Act.

The Government’s intention, as indicated in the Home Office factsheet for this part of the Bill, is that the measures will “reduce the scope for … support to remove incentives for failed asylum seekers to remain in the UK illegally”.

In particular, the Bill proposes replacing section 4 support with a new category of support (‘section 95A’), which would only be available to destitute refused asylum seekers (including family cases) who face a “genuine obstacle” to leaving the UK.

Many of the details relating to the proposed section 95A support, including the definition of a “genuine obstacle”, other eligibility criteria, whether the support would be provided in cash or vouchers, and any conditions attached to section 95A support, would be specified in regulations. These would be subject to the negative resolution procedure.

Refused asylum-seeker families who did not qualify for the new section 95A support would not have access to support.

The changes would not be applied retrospectively. The Bill includes some proposed transitional measures, which are intended to prevent large numbers of people abruptly losing their support entitlements:

• Section 4 support would continue for people who were in receipt of section 4 support, or who had an outstanding application or appeal for section 4 support immediately prior to the Bill’s provisions repealing section 4 coming into force.

• Section 95 support would continue for refused families in receipt of section 95 support, or who had an outstanding application or appeal for section 95 support immediately prior to the repeal of the related provisions coming into force.

However, the Bill also indicates that the Government intends to make use of existing powers to terminate asylum support in order to encourage transitional family cases to leave the UK in the event of the refusal of their asylum claim (as referred to in section 4.2 of this briefing).

The Home Office factsheet states that the Government is working with local authorities on the details of how the measures will be implemented. It does not intend for the costs of supporting refused asylum seekers and families to fall on local authorities.

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The possibility of introducing different powers for providing support and advice to asylum seekers in Scotland is being discussed

The provisions are informed by proposals outlined in a Home Office public consultation on ‘Reforming support for failed asylum seekers and other illegal migrants’ which took place between August and September.

Home Office figures quoted in the consultation document indicate that, as at 31 March 2015, an estimated 15,000 refused asylum seekers and their dependants were in receipt of asylum support. The Home Office has also estimated that this cost an estimated £73 million in 2014-15.

The Library briefing paper on the Immigration Bill 2015-16 has further background information about the proposed changes.

6.2 Devolving asylum support powers to Scotland

Alongside the consultation on changing the arrangements for supporting refused asylum seekers, the UK and Scottish governments are currently discussing the possibility of introducing different powers for the provision of financial support and accommodation and advice to asylum seekers in Scotland. These discussions were prompted by the Smith Commission Heads of Agreement identifying this as a further issue to consider.

19 'Asylum support': accommodation and financial support for asylum seekers

7. Further reading: Recent parliamentary interest, reports, etc.

Statistics The Immigration statistics quarterly release tables, available from GOV.UK, include information about applications for section 95 and section 4 asylum support.

Home Office Freedom of Information releases are published on GOV.UK.

Parliamentary interest Parliamentary material, including PQs and debates, EDMs and legislation, Deposited and Parliamentary papers, can be searched for using the Parliamentary Search facility on the intranet.

EDM 99 of 2014-15 ‘High Court judgment on asylum support’

Urgent Question on Asylum Seekers (Support), HC Deb 10 April 2014 c 415-424

Debate on section 4 support in Immigration Bill Public Bill Committee, PBC Deb 19 November 2013 c402-406

Westminster Hall debate on Asylum Suport (Children and Young People), HC Deb 27 February 2013 c67WH-89WH

Inquiries, inspection reports, NGO campaigns, etc. Home Affairs Committee, Asylum, HC 71 of 2013-14, 11 October 2013; Government response to the seventh report from the Home Affairs Committee session HC 71 2013-14 Asylum, Cm 8769, December 2013

Chapter 3 of the Committee’s report considers levels of financial support for asylum seekers, restrictions on asylum seekers’ rights to work, and the quality of accommodation provided to asylum seekers.

The Children’s Society, Report of the Parliamentary inquiry into asylum support for children and young people, January 2013

A report of an inquiry conducted by a cross-party panel of Parliamentarians supported by The Children’s Society. The recommendations included abolishing Section 4 support in favour of “a single cash-based support system for all children and their families who need asylum support while they are in the UK”; aligning asylum support for families provided with accommodation with mainstream benefit rates paid for living expenses; and increasing support annually and at least in line with Income Support. The Children’s Society launched a campaign to End Forced Destitution to take forward the report’s recommendations.

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National Audit Office, COMPASS contracts for the provision of accommodation to asylum seekers, 10 January 2014 (see also Public Accounts Committee, COMPASS: Provision of asylum accommodation, HC 1000 of 2013-13, 24 April 2014 and Government responses on reports of the Committee of Public Accounts session 2013-14, Cm 8871, June 2014)

Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, An inspection of Asylum Support September 2013 – January 2014; Home Office, The Home Office’s response to the independent Chief Inspector’s report both published July 2014

The Independent Chief Inspector concluded that the Home Office was deciding applications for asylum support fairly, but there was no effective strategy in place to identify and tackle asylum support fraud.

Refugee Action campaign to Bring back dignity to our asylum support system

Refugee Council, 28 days later: experiences of new refugees in the UK, 22 May 2014

British Red Cross, The Azure payment card the humanitarian cost of a cashless system, 25 July 2014

Asylum Support Appeals Project, UKBA decision making audit one year on, still no credibility, May 2013

Refugee Council/Maternity Action, When maternity doesn’t matter: Dispersing pregnant women seeking asylum, 25 February 2013

BRIEFING PAPER Number 1909, 14 October 2015

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