Thursday, September 17, 2009
Urgent: Stop Cuts to Asylum Support!
Fancy living on a fiver per day – every day? No? Then why should others have to? Please help us stop cuts to asylum support. It’s urgent!
The Problem
The government has announced it will cut support to single asylum seekers over 25 years old to just £5 a day (£35.15 per week) from 5th October.
People seeking asylum who start receiving support will have to manage on nearly £7 a week less than current rates – leaving them to survive on just a little more than 50% of standard income support rates.
We think this is too low to cover everything that an individual might need while waiting for a decision on their claim.
People seeking asylum are not allowed to work. They have no other means of supporting themselves.
Take Action Now
Email Alan Johnson now and tell him not to cut asylum support!
Please ask all your fellow STAR members and friends to take this action and get their friends involved. Email the link to everyone you know. Together we can stop this!
Asylum seekers are among the most vulnerable and impoverished groups in our society. They have often experienced unimaginable traumas, including torture, rape or other forms of violence, and have come to the UK with nothing. They deserve our help and compassion, not to be penalised.
Background
Richard Dunstan of the Citizens Advice Bureau explains why the cuts to asylum support should not go ahead:
In early June, the Home Office quietly laid Regulations to abolish the higher rate of support for single asylum seekers aged 25 and over.
Currently, single asylum seekers aged 18 to 24 receive £33.19 per week, but those aged 25 and over receive £42.16 per week.
Under the Regulations, from 6th July the lower rate for those aged 18 to 24 was increased by 5.2%, in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for September, to £35.13.
However, from 5th October, single asylum seekers aged 25 or over will also receive this lower rate of support. In addition, the support rate for lone parents will not be increased in line with the CPI, so will remain at £42.16.
There was no consultation on the abolition of the higher rate for those aged 25 and over.
Stakeholders were only informed of the change by a letter sent out by the UKBA on 6th July – when it was too late for stakeholder organisations to urge Members of Parliament to oppose the change.
In this letter, and in an Explanatory Memorandum accompanying the Regulations, the UKBA justifies the change by noting that the “existing support structure was modelled in 1999 on that used by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for income support.
This system distinguishes between persons aged under and over 25. Given that all asylum applicants have access to rent free accommodation with utilities included, we do not consider that the essential living needs of supported asylum seekers change on the 25th birthday”.
Yasmin and Sara
“We often run out of food by the weekend”!
Yasmin (40) and her 13-year-old daughter Sara fled Bangladesh three years ago after Yasmin was beaten and abused by her husband’s family and ostracised by the community for changing religion.
“I would love to be able to earn my own living, I hate living on benefits and want to support myself. I have studied book-keeping and would like to work in a bank. The money we currently receive is so hard to live on and the pressure to count every penny is a daily struggle. We have often run out of food by the weekend and then we live on bread and butter. My daughter is a teenager now and ashamed that all of her clothes are second-hand and that we can’t afford anything.” Yasmin
Source: http://www.refugee-action.org.uk
Get involved
STAR is supporting the Right to Work campaign to allow asylum seekers to work rather than depend on low benefits.
Right to Work
STAR is supporting the Still Human Still Here campaign to end the destitution of refused asylum seekers.
Still Human Still Here
Posted by STAR team on 17/09/2009 at 02:52 PM
