North East Child Poverty Commission and the Regional Refugee Forum North East report says asylum seekers are a "forgotten poor"
A new report, 'Written out of the picture', published this week by the North East Child Poverty Commission and the Regional Refugee Forum North East highlights the widespread incidence of poverty amongst refugees and asylum seekers.
The report focuses, in particular, on child poverty and the report's author, Steve Crossley, writes on the Poverty and Social Exclusion (PSE) website that in all the talk of tackling child poverty, the children of refugees and asylum seekers have been forgotten.
With Section 95 support often working out to just over £5 a day, researchers say asylum seekers are forced to live on the 'margins of the margins' while waiting for their cases to be processed. Cut off from the world of work, and often denied decent housing, adequate medical provision or cultural services, many drift into a state of destitution, rely on charity hand-outs or are forced into an underground economy.
According to Crossley, despite a growing acknowledgement that the support offered to asylum seekers in the UK effectively 'traps' them in poverty, the role of local services and the issue of poverty amongst individuals once granted leave to remain has received little attention from researchers or campaigners. Little central or local government attention has been paid to poverty amongst these groups, with government documents and statistics appearing to 'miss out' asylum seeking children.
The new report highlights the important role of local services in improving the lives of refugees and asylum seekers, and it includes a number of recommendations that local services may want to consider.
You can read the full report here.