'Inhumane' Asylum Payment Card

posted: 08/11/2010

Four leading refugee organisations criticise the Azure payment card used to pay asylum seekers because it leaves so many living in hunger and deprivation.  The Azure card problems affect people with HIV. The new report, Your inflexible friend: the cost of living without cash, shows the many problems people face when you have no cash and are given no change.
 

The Azure payment card was introduced at the end of 2009 and the card replaced the system of supermarket vouchers for asylum seekers.

The card is topped up weekly (but only with £35 income for a single person) and can be used only in certain supermarkets. You cannot get cash, be given change, and anything over £5 that you do not spend by the end of the week is taken back from you.
 

Cash-less hassle
Without cash,

• over half (56%) could not pay for travel to see their legal advisers, or attend essential health appointments (53%)
• 40% could not buy food for their dietary, religious, or cultural requirements from the allowed supermarkets, and many go hungry as a result
• 39% believed the supermarkets do not give the best value for money, and say markets or charity shops offer a better deal
• 60% had problems with the card not working, including 13 people with children
• 79% reported that the shops had refused the card
• 56% reported anxiety and shame when using the card

The findings confirm the concerns raised by the organisations when the payment card was first introduced in 2009, and that asylum seekers living on this type of support continue to live in deprivation as a result of the card.
 

Jonathan Ellis, Director of Policy and Development at the Refugee Council said: “Our evidence proves the failings of the new Azure card are forcing asylum seekers into hunger and hardship. Their survival relies on a payment system that not only hugely restricts where, when, and what they can shop for, but often does not work at all. People, often with babies and young children, are in many cases just waiting to return to their countries as soon as they can, or cannot return because it is still unsafe. They have no choice but to remain here temporarily, and are not allowed to work to support themselves. It is therefore unacceptable that they are unable to buy items that meet their basic needs, and that they have to face hostility in shops when they use these cards.
 

People need cash not plastic

The government is reviewing the asylum and immigration system and must use this opportunity to end this inhumane system now, and offer asylum seekers cash as an alternative. Though levels of support are still too low – at just £5 a day - a simple cash support system would give people the freedom to spend the money as they wished, while allowing people to live with dignity until they can return home.
 

Your inflexible friend: The cost of living without cash
 

Refused Asylum Seekers Fed by Charities

posted: 16/06/2010

Up to 20,000 refused asylum seekers are living destitute in the UK, relying on charities for food, reports the Red Cross today. George House Trust supports around 40 people living with HIV who are destitute.The Red Cross report criticises the government's asylum system as "shameful" and "inhumane".
 

A network of Red Cross "destitution clinics" across the country, including Manchester, give out food vouchers and food parcels to thousands of refused asylum seekers every week. The Red Cross say that this is like their work distributing emergency humanitarian aid in countries such as Sudan.
 

Sharing the burden

The Red Cross, George House Trust and other charities provide a mix of small payments, food parcels and other help to people living with HIV who are destitute. But the numbers of people requiring help and the cost of meeting everyone's needs are beyond any charity's means. Many other migrants share what little they have themselves to help those with nothing.

Destitution strategy
"This is a serious humanitarian situation for these very vulnerable people," Nicholas Young, chief executive of the Red Cross, said. "We do feel that this needs to be tackled by the government because there appears to be a deliberate strategy to make people destitute … for centuries refugees have been coming to this country and receiving kind treatment. It is a shame that is not the case now."
 

Because many refused asylum seekers no longer register with the Home Office, it is hard to get precise figures about the scale of the problem. Asylum organisations estimate that around 200,000 people have been refused asylum but remain in the country. Most are being sheltered by friends, but the Red Cross estimates that up to 20,000 are wholly dependent on charities for food, with some sleeping on the streets, in garages and in hedges.
"In many cases they experience exploitation, overcrowded living conditions, street homelessness, physical and mental illnesses and malnourishment," the report states.
 

Can’t work, no money, no food, no home
Once an asylum request is refused, the asylum seeker is no longer eligible to receive any state support and remains prohibited from working. "You can remove people back to their home country, or you can keep them here. But you have to give people food. You cannot starve people out of the country," said Joseph Nibizi, who runs the Red Cross food distribution centre for asylum seekers in Birmingham. The Red Cross report reflects its conviction that the situation is worsening.

Call for humane treatment - the right to work and healthcare

Red Cross are calling for a support system that will ensure that individuals have the right to work, and access to healthcare, throughout their application until they are either granted leave to stay or are able to leave the country.
 

HIV and destitution
People with HIV who are destitute cannot leave for various reasons, including the lack of life-saving HIV treatment, they would have no income or support in their home country, or the danger they face that caused them to flee still remains.
 

Section 4
The current system does have a safety net of hardship support, known as "section 4", which is available for those who have been refused asylum but are taking steps to return to their own country, or who are appealing against the decision. But it is a safety net with big holes and many fall through the gaps. People are left destitute until they have put together a new application which has to be accepted by the Home Office as based on new evidence. Applications are not accepted automatically, and some, including people with HIV, are unwilling to apply for section 4 because they do not want to be forced to return home.
 

One meal a day – for a year or more
A survey by Red Cross reveals that 87% of people in this situation often survive on only one meal a day, with six out of 10 remaining destitute for more than a year.
 

More than 1 in 4 appeals won
Asylum support organisations argue that refusing asylum does not automatically mean the application was unjustified. Last year 28% of people who appealed against asylum refusal were granted leave to remain, a figure that activists say reflects serious flaws in the process. About half of those whose claim is rejected come from countries such as Congo, Iraq, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea where there is conflict and in some of these countries HIV rates are high.
 

Minister responds
Damian Green, minister for immigration, said: "The government is committed to exploring new ways of improving the current asylum system. The UK Border Agency provides support to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute until a decision on their application is made. However, when the independent courts have decided that an asylum seeker does not need international protection, support is discontinued and we expect them to return home voluntarily. Where a refused asylum seeker does not return voluntarily we will take removal action. Where a person faces a temporary barrier to their return which is not their fault, we will provide support until that barrier is removed if they would otherwise be destitute."
 

However the facts speak for themselves.
 

Surviving on £10 a week
If you can't work, can't claim benefits, and have nowhere to live, how do you survive with one £10 food voucher a week? Four refused asylum seekers tell their survival tales. Helpful tips come from four refused asylum seekers in Birmingham, who remain in this country, preparing to appeal the Home Office decision, sleeping meanwhile in hedges, doorways, old garages and staircases.

Read four people’s accounts of survival on £10 a week in vouchers

Red Cross news
Red Cross Destitution report – Not Gone But Forgotten 
Source

Vouchers Hardship for Asylum "Shocking"

posted: 06/10/2008

The Refugee Council today published a  report into the consequences of a government policy that forces some asylum seekers to live on vouchers while they are in the UK.

Individuals, couples and families with children whose claims have been refused but who are still in the country, either because they are waiting to return home voluntarily or because it is not safe for them to return home, are being given £35 in vouchers per week to support themselves.

In 2000, the government introduced vouchers for people seeking asylum, but was forced to end this policy eighteen months later following widespread condemnation that it was inhumane. Since then, it has in fact continued this policy by stealth, giving vouchers to people who are at the end of the process and only entitled to limited support.

The Refugee Council’s report reveals the devastating impact this policy has had. People living on vouchers are hungry and in poor health. They are forced to walk miles to the nearest supermarket that will accept the vouchers, as they have no cash for public transport. Families are struggling to buy nappies and other provisions for their babies, and some are so desperate they are exchanging £35 in vouchers for £25 in cash.

Donna Covey, Chief Executive of the Refugee Council said:

“The evidence contained in this report is truly shocking. Vulnerable people, often with babies and very young children, are being forced into severely impoverished circumstances as a result of a policy which this very government recognised as unacceptable seven years ago and abolished.

“These are people who are fully co-operating with the authorities, who are in many cases just waiting to return home as soon as they can, or who are from places like Zimbabwe where it is not safe to return. They have no choice but to remain here for the time being, and are not allowed to work. Forcing them to live like this is disgraceful.

“This situation is both appalling and unsustainable. The government must end this policy immediately, and offer people cash support. But the real solution lies in letting people work while they are here, allowing them to contribute to the communities in which they live and not forcing them to rely on inadequate state handouts.”

The full report is available at www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/s4vouchers.