Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2014 22:09:19 +0200
Basic needs unmet for UK asylum-seekers
LONDON, 1 October 2014 (IRIN) - Last month, a quiet announcement from UK
Home Secretary Theresa May dashed the hopes of thousands of asylum seekers
in the UK. A court ruling in April had criticized the very low level of
support it gives to those seeking asylum and had given her four months to
show how she had calculated that it would cover their needs. The Home Office
duly did its sums, but announced that the amount to be paid would not
increase.
The decision was a blow to campaigners who had brought the case to show that
asylum seekers were being forced to live in extreme poverty while waiting
for their applications to be processed.
Dave Garratt, the chief executive of Refugee Action, the organization which
took the Home Secretary to court, told IRIN that asylum seekers were coming
through their doors, telling them that they were really struggling to
survive. But the campaigners did at least force the Home Office to give an
account of how the asylum seekers’ allowance - currently just over £5 a day
for a single adult - was calculated.
“Essentially what they have done,” says Garratt, “is base it on the
expenditure of the lowest 10 percent of people in the UK. But we think that
is quite flawed, because that is about expenditure, not about need, and many
of those people have other help, from family and friends. It doesn't take
account of the special circumstances of asylum seekers who may arrive
without clothes or shoes, and have no stored food to fall back on. We still
think it is not high enough, but now we have the analysis written down, at
least we have something we can debate about, and the formula will have to be
re-applied every year so they can show they are doing their job properly.”
One of the most blistering critiques of the system had come from the
London-based organization, Freedom from Torture, which provides medical and
psychological support to the victims of torture. They received 1,251 new
referrals of torture survivors last year, from 80 countries; the vast
majority had sought asylum in the UK. Rhian Beynon, the organization's
spokesperson, told IRIN: “The failure of the Home Office to increase the
current asylum support levels is a missed opportunity and the effects will
be felt by some of the most vulnerable people living in the UK today.”
Torture survivors suffer most
In its own
<http://www.freedomfromtorture.org/sites/default/files/documents/Poverty%20r
eport%20FINAL%20a4%20web.pdf> report on the way poverty was affecting
torture survivors seeking asylum, Freedom from Torture drew on the
experiences of its clients and those who work with them to paint a bleak
picture of what happens to torture victims who reach the UK and embark on
the arduous process of getting refugee status. “I am exhausted,” says one
client, “living with this day by day. I am running out of stamina to deal
with the pain.” “Our current living conditions keep our torture trauma still
alive,” says another. “We can't move on.”
The system is difficult for anyone applying for asylum, but one of the
organizations' clinicians described vividly how torture survivors suffer
more than most. “You’re constantly trying to manage intrusive memories or
thoughts. When you do sleep, it’s… disturbed by violent nightmares.... and
lots of things can trigger flashbacks or at the very least, painful
memories. Having to manage all of that - which is what our clients manage -
plus the profound uncertainty of what you’re going to eat and where you’re
going to go and how you’re going to get there, you know… I’m stating the
obvious, but it’s much more difficult for torture survivors.”
British immigration law prohibits asylum seekers from working legally, the
purported rationale being that allowing applicants to work would blur the
line between asylum applicants and economic migrants, and thereby serve as a
“pull factor.” Around 11 other EU states do allow asylum seekers to work -
if only six months after their arrival - and such policies do not appear to
increase the number of asylum applicants. British government policy,
<https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/roger-roberts-and-ruth-lister/asyl
um-seekers-in-uk-let-them-work-and-let-them-eat> critics suggest, is driven
more by misperceptions of public opinion on the right to work than by
empirical evidence.
Restricted benefits
A single adult asylum seeker's allowance is currently only just over 50
percent of the benefit known as “income support” - in itself considered the
minimum needed to lead an adequate life. In cases where an initial asylum
request has been refused and a destitute applicant is waiting for the result
of an appeal, or has agreed to return to their country of origin but is
unable to do immediately, the allowance, known as Section 4 support, is no
longer paid in cash, but loaded onto a “
<https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/3
51369/Azure_Card_Carrier_2014.pdf> Azure card”. This can only be used at
designated shops, for food and a limited range of other items. The recipient
has no money for anything else - bus fares, postage, faxing documents or any
of the other expenses needed to pursue his claim.
The British Red Cross recently called for the Azure card system to be
abolished, saying in a detailed
<http://www.scribd.com/doc/234776188/Azure-Card-Report-2014> report that it
did “not allow refused asylum seekers to meet their basic needs and live
with dignity. It creates unnecessary suffering for people who are already in
desperate situations.”
Accommodation provided to asylum seekers is also very basic - often
hostel-style or shared accommodation. These shared houses can also be used
for people with other social needs - people newly released from jail or
struggling with drug or alcohol problems, which makes some torture survivors
feel very nervous and unsafe.
The UK is also somewhat ungenerous compared with its western European
neighbours. In the Netherlands, for instance, asylum seekers receive the
same benefits as any other needy resident. France, Germany, Belgium and
Italy have similar systems to the UK, but pay higher levels of support. And
most countries are less restrictive than the UK about allowing asylum
seekers to work and support themselves.
Freedom From Torture reports that poverty and anxiety are seriously
compromising the ability of their clients to recover from their experiences.
The low level of support means that they are not just relatively poor by
British standards, but absolutely poor. More than half of the 85 torture
survivors who responded to a questionnaire said they were never, or not
often, able to buy enough of the right food for a nutritionally balanced
diet. Thirty-four said they were never, or not often, able to buy enough
food of any kind to satisfy their hunger.
The worst off were the clients with Azure cards, who could only buy at
designated shops - mostly mid-priced supermarkets - rather than in the
cheaper discount supermarkets or at market stalls. In one of the designated
shops the cheapest form of minced meat now costs £3.75 a kilo, a tin of tuna
is 95 pence and a 300gram piece of plain cheese £2. Apples are now in season
and abundant, but four apples cost a pound. The daily allowance of around £5
does not go far.
The doctors and therapists treating torture survivors say hunger and poor
diet “negatively affects their clients’ mental and physical health, their
mood, their cognition and concentration and their ability to engage fully in
therapy and counselling sessions.” The problem is especially acute for those
still suffering the physical effects of their ill treatment. Said one
respondent: “The doctor says I have to eat a lot of protein but I cannot
afford to, so I'm always weak. I faint. One time I fainted at Freedom from
Torture.”
Another problem is warm clothes. It is hard on this level of income to save
enough for new shoes or winter clothing. Charity shops, which sell good
quality second hand garments, are useful but of little help to the Azure
card holders, who can only use those run by the Salvation Army or the Red
Cross - no help if the only charity shop within walking distance belongs to
Oxfam. Card holders are also prevented from saving because they are not
allowed to accumulate a surplus on the card - anything more than £5
disappears at the end of each week.
Cold, hungry and isolated
So torture survivors are cold and hungry, and have no money for anything
beyond bare necessities. Unable to visit friends, take part in social
activities or even get to their church, mosque or temple, they get isolated
and depressed and their recovery is set back still further. They are also
often stressed by the asylum application process itself, which is extremely
complicated. Missed appointments, and anything else seen as lack of
cooperation can lead to a stoppage of benefits. Changes in circumstance can
lead to gaps and delays in payments. Freedom from Torture recounts cases of
torture survivors being left totally destitute, sleeping in the street or on
night buses and searching for discarded food to eat.
Ironically the very point at which asylum seekers finally succeed in getting
refugee status can be one of the most difficult moments. Temporary support
stops four weeks after that status is granted. The refugee can now work and
is eligible for normal welfare benefits, but has just one month to find new
accommodation and get a job, or else negotiate a whole new set of form
filling, interviews and bureaucratic requirements. Doctors and therapists
interviewed for the Freedom from Torture's report said: “There’s nothing
worse for our clients than thinking all your problems have ended because you
get ‘status’ and then becoming homeless.” For some, they said, this is the
most difficult time of all, and the point where they finally break down.
<http://www.irinnews.org/Photo/Details/201410011341340739/Top-ups-required-c
harities-such-as-the-Red-Cross-often-supplement-the-meagre-state-allowances-
given>
http://www.irinnews.org/photo/Download.aspx?Source=Report&Year=2014&ImageID=
201410011341340739&Width=490
Photo: <http://www.photo-banks.com> Jonathan Banks
Top-ups required: charities such as the Red Cross often supplement the
meagre state allowances given to asylum-seekers (file photo)
(image/jpeg attachment: image001.jpg)