Concise and factual overview of the current levels of asylum support in the UK
New from the House of Commons Library last week is an updated research briefing on accommodation and financial support provided to asylum seekers in the UK.
You can read a full copy of the briefing below or you can download the original 29-page briefing here.
It provides a concise and factual overview of the asylum support system.
The briefing focuses on support provided to asylum seekers under sections 95 and 98 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.
As the House of Commons Library notes in the briefing, asylum seekers in self-catered accommodation or receiving subsistence-only support are provided with a weekly payment of £49.18, which is credited to a pre-paid debit card. Asylum seekers in full-board accommodation, with meals provided, receive £8.86 a week.
Support provided to asylum seekers is intended to be generally sufficient to meet essential needs for food and non-alcoholic drinks, clothing, toiletries, non-prescription medication, household cleaning items, communications, travel, and the ability to access social, cultural and religious life.
Pregnant women and young children are eligible for extra weekly payments to pay for healthy food. The extra payment is currently £9.50 for babies under one year old, and £5.25 for pregnant women and children aged between one and three.
The full House of Commons Library briefing follows below:
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Asylum support: Accommodation and financial support for asylum seekers
Research Briefing
5 April 2024
By Melanie Gower
Summary
1 Legal background
2 Accommodation support
3 Subsistence (cash) support
4 Grounds to refuse or withdraw support
5 Useful resources and further reading
commonslibrary.parliament.uk
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Wendy Wilson
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Contents
Summary
1 Legal background
1.1 Duty to provide support
1.2 What support is provided?
1.3 Exceptions for late claimants
1.4 Offences related to applying for asylum support
2 Accommodation support
2.1 The dispersal policy
2.2 Accommodation requirements
2.3 Accommodation allocation criteria
2.4 Local authority involvement
3 Subsistence (cash) support
3.1 Weekly payments for essential living needs
3.2 Reviewing and amending cash support rates
3.3 Adequacy of support rates: recent scrutiny
4 Grounds to refuse or withdraw support
4.1 Conditions of support
4.2 Rights of appeal against refusal or withdrawal of support
5 Useful resources and further reading
5.1 Useful resources for casework queries
5.2 Parliamentary scrutiny and reports
People claiming asylum in the UK are not eligible for mainstream welfare benefits and are generally not allowed to work. Instead, asylum seekers who are destitute can apply to UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI, a Home Office directorate) for accommodation or money (or both) while they are waiting for a decision on their asylum claim. This is commonly referred to as 'asylum support'.
A person is destitute if they do not have adequate accommodation or any means of obtaining it, or if they have adequate accommodation or the means of obtaining it but cannot meet their other essential living needs.
As asylum support is a reserved matter, the support arrangements detailed in this briefing apply to asylum seekers across the UK.
Legal basis for asylum support
The asylum support system is based on provisions in Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 ('the 1999 Act').
Various sections of the 1999 Act give powers to provide accommodation and subsistence support at different stages of the asylum process. This briefing focuses on support under sections 95 and 98 of the Act.
Section 95 support is provided to people waiting for a decision on their asylum claim or appeal. It is mainly provided as accommodation and money to cover specified essential living needs (often referred to as subsistence support).
Section 98 support is provided while a person's eligibility for section 95 asylum support is being considered. It is usually provided as full-board accommodation.
Subsistence support
The weekly section 95 support rate is £49.18 per person for people living in self-catered accommodation or receiving subsistence-only support. People in full-board accommodation receive £8.86 a week. Some additional payments are available to certain cohorts, including pregnant women and children under four.
Subsistence support is intended to cover destitute asylum seekers' essential living needs. The weekly amount is credited to a pre-paid debit card which asylum seekers can use to pay for goods or withdraw cash.
Other entitlements
Asylum seekers also have free access to the NHS and may be eligible for free prescriptions, dental care, eyesight tests and vouchers for glasses. Children are eligible for 15 hours free early years childcare (for children aged between two and five). They have the same entitlement to state education as other children of compulsory school age and may be eligible for free school meals. Asylum seekers may be eligible for other discretionary schemes run by local authorities or other providers, such as concessionary travel on public transport.
Accommodation support
Private sector providers contracted by the Home Office are responsible for finding accommodation for homeless asylum seekers. Accommodation is allocated on a no-choice basis in regions across the UK under the longstanding dispersal policy.
Asylum seekers should move between 'initial' and 'dispersal' accommodation as their case progresses. Initial accommodation is typically in full-board hostel-style residences. Dispersal accommodation is usually furnished houses, flats or rooms in houses in multiple occupation.
In recent years the use of other forms of accommodation has increased, partly due to pressures on availability and also because of policy choices made by successive recent governments. The Home Office is trying to stop using hotels as contingency accommodation. It is establishing some large- scale accommodation sites including on vessels and government-owned land.
Conditions of support and grounds to withdraw it
Asylum seekers are expected to adhere to various conditions attached to the provision of asylum support. Support may be suspended or withdrawn if a person breaches the relevant conditions.
Certain decisions to refuse or withdraw asylum support have a right of appeal to the First-Tier Tribunal (Asylum Support). These include decisions to refuse section 95 support and decisions to withdraw support before the asylum claim has been fully determined.
This briefing focuses on obligations towards asylum seekers waiting for a decision on their asylum claim or appeal (adult applicants and their dependants). It doesn't address support arrangements for unaccompanied children seeking asylum or people whose asylum claims have been refused.
Asylum support is a reserved matter, so the support arrangements detailed in this briefing apply to asylum seekers in all the constituent parts of the UK.
The statutory asylum support regime is provided for in Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 and related regulations. [1]
The asylum support system also reflects obligations arising from the EU Reception Conditions Directive, Directive 2003/9/EC. The directive laid down minimum standards for asylum seekers' living conditions, including in terms of material conditions (housing, food and clothing) and health care. The UK implemented the directive through existing health, education and community care provisions, and changes to policy and secondary legislation. [2] The directive remains relevant to asylum support obligations after Brexit. [3]
Broader legal obligations relevant to the Home Secretary's duties to provide asylum support include statutory duties under section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 (which requires the Home Office to carry out its functions in a way that takes into account the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in the UK), section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 (the Public Sector Equality Duty), and the UK's international legal obligations, including the European Convention on Human Rights (for example, Article 3, prohibition of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment).
Who must be provided with support?
The 1999 Act specifies the Home Secretary's responsibilities to provide, or arrange for the provision of, support to:
• asylum seekers who appear to be destitute or likely to become destitute within a prescribed period (defined in regulations as 14 days). [4] This is often referred to as 'section 95 support'.
• asylum seekers who it appears may be destitute and have an outstanding application for section 95 support. [5] This is known as 'section 98 support'. It is provided until the person's eligibility for support under section 95 has been decided.
A person is destitute if they do not have adequate accommodation or any means of obtaining it, or if they have adequate accommodation or the means of obtaining it but cannot meet their other essential living needs. [6]
Sections 95 and 98 refer to "powers" to provide support, but other legislative provisions specify that if an asylum seeker applies for support under section 95 or section 98 and the Secretary of State thinks they are eligible for it, they must be offered support. [7]
Section 95 support is provided until shortly after a final decision is made on the person's asylum claim or appeal. [8] People whose asylum claims are being considered under the 'inadmissibility process' remain eligible for section 95 support until they receive a declaration of inadmissibility. [9]
Accommodation and subsistence support
Section 96 of the 1999 Act sets out the ways in which section 95 support may be provided. The main elements are:
• by providing accommodation that appears to the Home Secretary to be adequate for the needs of the supported person and any dependants.
• by providing what appear to the Home Secretary to be essential living needs of the supported person and any dependants. [10]
Asylum seekers can apply to the Home Office for section 95 accommodation or subsistence support (money) to cover other essential living needs (if they don't need accommodation), or both. Most apply for both. [11]
If a person applying for section 95 or section 98 support (or a dependant family member) is a vulnerable person, the Home Secretary must consider their special needs when considering providing support. [12]
A "vulnerable person" is defined as a minor; a disabled person; an elderly person; a pregnant woman; a lone parent with a minor child; or a person who has been subjected to torture, rape or other serious forms of psychological, physical or sexual violence and has had an individual evaluation that confirms they have special needs.
For more on accommodation support see section 2.
Other entitlements
In addition to accommodation and subsistence support, asylum seekers have free access to the NHS and may be eligible for free prescriptions, dental care, eyesight tests and vouchers for glasses. Children in asylum-seeking households are eligible for 15 hours free early years childcare (for children between two and five). They have the same entitlement to state education as other children of compulsory school age and may be eligible for free school meals. [13] Asylum seeker children are entitled to access the education system while the asylum claim is being considered until they are 18 years old. [14] Asylum seekers may be eligible for discretionary schemes operated by local authorities or other providers, such as concessionary travel on public transport.
Employment
Generally, asylum seekers are not allowed to work while waiting for a decision on their asylum claim. But they can apply for permission to work if they have waited for over 12 months for an initial decision on their asylum claim and are not considered responsible for the delay in decision-making. [15] If granted, permission to work as an asylum seeker lasts until the asylum claim has been finally determined.
Asylum seekers given permission to work are usually restricted to taking up jobs on the Home Office's immigration salary list. [16] Broadly, these are jobs in skilled or professional occupations. Home Office officials have discretion to grant permission to work "outside of the immigration rules" but such grants are expected to be rare. [17] See the Commons Library briefing paper Asylum seekers: the permission to work policy for further background to the policy and recent debate.
Asylum seekers with care needs
Local authorities can provide social care to adult asylum seekers who are supported by the Home Office, subject to various criteria. [18] Home Office staff (and contracted providers) should refer adult asylum seekers who appear to have a care need to the relevant local authority to do a needs assessment.
If the asylum seeker's care needs can be addressed in asylum accommodation, then the Home Office should accommodate them following a care assessment.
The Home Office guidance on asylum seekers with care needs provides some more detailed information. [19]
1.3 Exceptions for late claimants
Asylum support can be denied to an asylum seeker if the Home Secretary isn't satisfied they claimed asylum "as soon as reasonably practicable". [20] It is generally accepted that a person who claims asylum within three days of arrival has claimed as soon as reasonably practicable, although decisions depend on the individual circumstances of the case.
Support cannot be denied if this would breach the person's human rights. [21] Briefly, the threshold for this is if the person faces an imminent prospect of serious suffering caused or materially aggravated by the denial of support. [22] Home Office guidance provides more detail on its approach to using these powers to deny support. [23]
1.4 Offences related to applying for asylum support
There are criminal offences related to making false or dishonest representations with a view to obtaining asylum support, and the failure to notify the Home Office of a change of circumstances where required to do so. [24] The Home Office can seek to recover support that was provided on the basis of misrepresentation. [25]
Accommodation is allocated to homeless asylum seekers in regions across the UK on a 'no-choice basis', meaning the individual does not have a choice in where they are housed. Accommodation is provided until shortly after the person receives a final decision on their asylum application or appeal. [26] In recent years a wider range of accommodation types has come into use. This has been due to pressures on accommodation availability as well as policy choices made by successive recent governments.
The dispersal policy was introduced alongside the 1999 Act. Under the dispersal system, asylum seekers are offered accommodation on a no-choice basis across the UK. Since 2010, the Home Office has had regional accommodation contracts in place with private companies who are responsible for sourcing accommodation.
Dispersal was intended to distribute supported asylum seekers around the UK, generally away from London and the south east and towards areas where there was greater availability of suitable and cheaper accommodation. [27]
Before dispersal and the 1999 Act came into effect, the local authority in the area where a person claimed asylum was responsible for their accommodation. In practice this meant local authorities in London and the south east were responsible for most asylum seekers.
Three companies have been awarded the seven regional asylum accommodation and support services ('AASC') contracts:
• Serco Group Plc: Midlands and East of England; North West of England.
• Mears Group Plc: North East of England, Yorkshire and Humberside; Northern Ireland; Scotland.
• Clearsprings Ready Homes: South of England; Wales. [28]
These companies have their own networks of housing contractors and sub- contractors who they use to source accommodation for asylum seekers.
The AASC contracts began in September 2019. They have an overall approximate value of £4 billion and are due to last 10 years (with a break clause after seven years). [29]
2.2 Accommodation requirements
Adequate accommodation
The Home Secretary isn't obliged to provide accommodation in any particular form but it must be "adequate to the needs" of asylum seekers. [30] This requirement is complemented by Article 13 of the EU Reception Conditions Directive, which requires asylum accommodation to "ensure a standard of living adequate for the health of applicants". [31]
There is a body of case law on what constitutes adequate accommodation. In short, adequacy must be assessed with reference to the individual needs and circumstances of the people being accommodated. As a minimum, the accommodation must ensure a dignified standard of living, which is adequate for health and is capable of ensuring subsistence". [32]
Relevant considerations include the asylum seekers' vulnerability and the length of time in the accommodation (accommodation may be adequate in the short-term but become unsuitable over time). [33] The immigration law website Free Movement summarises some successful and unsuccessful judicial reviews brought by asylum seekers challenging the adequacy of their accommodation in recent years. [34]
Types of asylum accommodation
The standard practice over the past 20 years or so has been to provide asylum accommodation within local communities. [35] Asylum seekers should move between properties categorised as 'initial' or 'dispersal' accommodation, depending on how far their application for support has progressed.
Initial and dispersal accommodation
Initial accommodation has typically been in full-board hostel-style residences. It is used to accommodate asylum seekers on section 98 support and people granted section 95 support who are waiting to move to longer- term accommodation.
Once the person is found eligible for section 95 asylum support, they should be moved into longer-term ('dispersal') accommodation, which is provided until shortly after they receive a final decision on their asylum application or appeal (whether positive or negative). Dispersal accommodation has typically been provided as self-contained private dwellings (furnished flats, houses, or rooms in houses of multiple occupation).
The system was designed on the premise that stays in initial accommodation would be brief (less than 35 days). [36] As a reflection of this, the contractual obligations for providing initial accommodation differ to those for dispersal accommodation in some respects. For example, there isn't a requirement to facilitate school registrations. But in recent years it has typically taken longer to move people into dispersal accommodation, chiefly because of limited availability. The Home Office now advises applicants that they might stay in initial accommodation for an "extended period". [37]
Contingency hotel accommodation and large-scale sites
Since around 2020, limited availability of initial and dispersal accommodation has led to an increased use of 'contingency' asylum accommodation for people receiving either section 98 or section 95 support.
This has been necessary to avoid the Home Office breaching its statutory responsibilities to destitute asylum seekers. Asylum seekers in contingency accommodation may subsequently move to other parts of the asylum accommodation estate such as dispersal accommodation in a local community or another contingency site, depending on the circumstances of the case and accommodation availability.
Most contingency accommodation has been provided as rooms in hotels (asylum seekers living in hotels do not have access to the same range of facilities as paying guests). The Home Office's accommodation providers have responsibilities for sourcing suitable hotel accommodation (in liaison with the Home Office and local authorities) and providing services to residents in accordance with the service requirements and standards specified in the AASC contracts for initial accommodation.
Hotel accommodation came into widespread use on an unplanned and as needed basis during the Covid-19 pandemic. [38] The Government is trying to end the use of hotels by increasing the availability of other asylum accommodation. [39] In late October 2023 it identified 50 hotels it would stop using by the end of January 2024. It said this was the first phase of a plan to return the hotels to general use. [40]
The Home Office has also been using some large-scale accommodation facilities on self-contained sites. [41] During the Covid-19 pandemic it used barracks at some former military sites (Penally Barracks in Pembrokeshire and Napier Barracks in Kent). This was partly to minimise the use of hotel rooms. [42] It stopped using Penally Barracks in March 2021. [43] Napier Barracks remains in use as accommodation for non-detained single adult male asylum seekers. A special development order authorises Napier's continued use as asylum accommodation until September 2026. [44]
Successive governments have also wanted to establish large-scale asylum accommodation at other sites since 2020. Currently, there are asylum seekers accommodated on the Bibby Stockholm vessel moored in Portland Port, Dorset, and in facilities at RAF Wethersfield in Essex. The Home Office is also working on plans to bring into use accommodation facilities at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire and a former student accommodation development in Huddersfield.
A separate Library briefing has more detailed information about the use of contingency hotels and large-scale asylum accommodation sites: Asylum accommodation: hotels, vessels and large-scale sites.
Asylum accommodation and support services contract (AASC) requirements
The AASC contracts provide the framework for the relationship between the Home Office and its contracted providers. The AASC Statement of Requirements document specifies the services which accommodation providers must provide to asylum seekers. [45]
The asylum advocacy organisation Asylum Matters has produced a guide to the AASC contracts and a separate guide specific to requirements in full board and initial accommodation. These provide an overview of the expectations and obligations that accommodation providers are subject to.
There have been recurring criticisms under successive contracting arrangements about the use of poor quality or sub-standard accommodation for asylum seekers, and landlords being unresponsive to complaints about defects. [46]
The AASC contracts are intended to address such concerns. Providers must have proactive maintenance plans, report the outcome of regular property inspections to the Home Office, and resolve defects within set timescales. [47] Asylum seekers can report accommodation problems through a third-party contractor (Migrant Help).
2.3 Accommodation allocation criteria
No choice basis
Factors which the Home Secretary can and cannot consider when providing section 95 support are set out in primary and secondary legislation. [48] For example, they must have regard to "the desirability, in general, of providing accommodation in areas in which there is a ready supply of accommodation" but cannot take into account an asylum seeker's preferences about where they are accommodated. [49]
Although asylum seekers don't have any choice over the type and location of accommodation they are offered, the Home Secretary must consider each applicant's individual circumstances. Requests for accommodation in a particular area are considered against the overriding principle of providing accommodation on a no-choice basis and in areas where there is a ready supply. The threshold for agreeing to requests is generally high. [50]
For example, Home Office policy guidance says that households with children in their final school year before GCSE, Scottish Highers, AS or A level exams (or equivalents) may be allowed to temporarily stay in a particular area if the child has been enrolled in a local school for a significant part of the previous school year, but should otherwise normally be refused. [51]
Suitability criteria for room sharing and contingency accommodation
Unrelated single adults of the same sex may be required to share rooms across the asylum accommodation estate.
As a matter of policy, the large-scale accommodation facilities at Napier and other former Ministry of Defence sites, and on the Bibby Stockholm vessel, are only used to accommodate single adult men between 18 and 65 years old. People accommodated at those sites are generally expected to share rooms. [52]
The Home Office's allocation of accommodation policy includes guidance for officials on identifying people who are unsuitable for room sharing or for accommodation in any of the large-scale sites. Since the guidance was updated in February 2024, the only groups deemed unsuitable are people who have received a positive decision that there are reasonable grounds to believe they are a victim of modern slavery and people who are being dealt with by the Home Office's foreign national offenders returns command.
Certain other asylum seekers "may" be considered unsuitable, depending on the individual circumstances of the case and an evaluation of whether their needs can be met at the accommodation. They include people who would be defined as vulnerable on the basis of age or disability or having been subjected to torture, rape or other serious forms of psychological, physical or sexual violence; and people with complex health needs.
2.4 Local authority involvement
Until the launch of the full dispersal model in 2022, local authorities could choose whether to accept dispersal accommodation within their area. Those that chose to participate would agree to asylum seekers being accommodated in specified local 'dispersal areas'.
The Home Office's contracted regional accommodation provider would then source accommodation within the dispersal areas. Cluster limits were intended to prevent a disproportionate number of asylum seekers being accommodated in any dispersal area (generally, no more than one asylum seeker per 200 residents, although in some areas there was agreement to deviate from the ratio). [53]
In April 2022, 47% of local authorities were participating in dispersal. [54] There were longstanding complaints from local authorities and other stakeholders that the voluntary dispersal policy resulted in unfairness between different areas of the UK. [55]
A reform programme initiated in 2019 aimed to achieve a more proportionate distribution of asylum seekers across government regions by 2029. It was put on hold in 2020. The overarching need to source additional asylum accommodation during the Covid-19 pandemic meant the Home Office authorised its accommodation providers to procure accommodation across the UK, including in areas where the local authority hadn't previously agreed to be a dispersal area. [56]
A 'full dispersal' model
In April 2022 the Home Office announced plans to implement a 'full dispersal' model to support its attempts to end the use of contingency hotel accommodation. [57]
All local authority areas became asylum dispersal areas. Each grouping of local authorities received an allocation of asylum seekers proportionate to their population size and was asked to develop an implementation plan. [58] The regional plans went live in March 2023. [59]
The Home Office has renegotiated some of its asylum accommodation contracts to increase the maximum number of bedspaces in certain regions. [60] It aims for an equitable distribution of asylum seekers by region, relative to the size of their general populations, by 2029. [61]
Funding for local authorities
Over the past couple of years the Home Office has increased the funding given to local authorities with asylum seekers in their areas.
For 2023/24, local authorities receive £3,500 for each new and occupied dispersal bed space that they have (the same as in 2022/23). [62] The Home Office is also piloting arrangements offering an additional one-off payment of £2,000 to £3,000 for new dispersal beds quickly brought into use. [63] The dispersal grant funding to local authorities is not ringfenced and so can be used by the authorities for other related purposes. It is intended to mitigate the impacts on local services and provide for wraparound support for asylum seekers.
Asylum seekers who are destitute, meaning they do not have adequate accommodation or any means of obtaining it, or they have adequate accommodation or the means to obtain it but cannot meet their other essential living needs, receive weekly subsistence support (cash payments) to cover their essential living needs.
This support is given under section 95 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (the 1999 Act) to people who are destitute and waiting for a decision on their asylum claim or appeal.
From 15 January 2024, the weekly rate for each person receiving subsistence support is:
• £49.18 if in self-catered accommodation or on subsistence-only support.
• £8.86 if in catered accommodation. [64]
Changes to asylum support rates are published on GOV.UK. [65]
3.1 Weekly payments for essential living needs
The weekly payment covers essential living needs which aren't met by other parts of the overall asylum support package.
It is intended to be generally sufficient to meet asylum seekers' needs for food and non-alcoholic drinks, clothing, toiletries, non-prescription medication, household cleaning items, communications, travel, and the ability to access social, cultural and religious life (this is covered by the allocation for communications and travel).
Certain other essential living needs, such as heating, lighting and cooking facilities are covered through providing the accommodation free from rent and utility bills (fuel and water) and fully furnished and equipped with household goods and linens. [66]
The Home Office's approach to determining what categories of essential living needs section 95 subsistence support must provide for, and how much money is sufficient to meet those needs, reflects guidance issued by the High Court in 2014 in response to a judicial review brough by the charity Refugee Action. [67] The approach was upheld in further judicial review proceedings in 2016. [68]
The weekly cash payment represents the total cost assigned by the Home Office to meeting each of the essential needs (based on average able-bodied asylum seekers). The costs are based on Office for National Statistics data and Home Office research.
The weekly total can notionally be broken down into different allocations – for example, for food and for clothing. [69] The clothing element is intended to ensure that adult asylum seekers have a "basic wardrobe" (three sets of clothing, one set of nightwear, one coat, two pairs of shoes and a hat, scarf and gloves). It is assumed that most asylum seekers will already have one set of clothing. [70]
Asylum seekers are expected to budget and plan their expenditure over time to ensure their essential needs are met. Unspent money can be carried over to the following week.
People who have some of their essential needs met by their asylum accommodation provider (such as if they are living in catered hotels or large- scale asylum accommodation sites) receive the lower weekly allowance (£8.86). [71]
Cash support is provided at a flat rate per person. Since May 2017 payments have been credited to a pre-paid debit card (the 'ASPEN' card). [72] The card can be used in shops to pay for goods or get cashback, and to withdraw cash from cash machines. It can't be used to make contactless, telephone or internet payments or for overseas payments. [73]
Asylum seekers must consent to the collection and storage of information about their ASPEN card usage to receive asylum support. Privacy International has criticised this requirement, arguing that it compels asylum seekers to accept "a trade-off between accessing support and their fundamental right to privacy". [74] There have been reports of some people being threatened with a termination of their asylum support after they had used their ASPEN card in an area different to where they were being accommodated. [75] The Home Office says that it monitors spending on ASPEN cards to prevent fraud and abuse. [76] ASPEN card usage data might inform decisions to suspend or terminate a person's asylum support on the grounds of a breach of conditions. [77]
Eligibility for extra payments and additional support
Extra payments
Pregnant women and young children are eligible for extra weekly payments to pay for healthy food:
• Pregnant women and children aged between one and three: an extra £5.25
• Children under one year old: an extra £9.50 [78]
These rates reflect changes made in January 2024, when extra payments were increased for the first time since introduced in March 2003 and eligibility was extended to three-year-old children. [79] The structure of the extra payments is now aligned with the Healthy Start scheme provided by the Department of Health and Social Care, which the Government says is for a similar purpose. [80]
Maternity grants
Women who are 32 or more weeks pregnant, or who have a baby under six weeks old, can apply for a one-off £300 maternity grant. [81]
Additional support
Section 96(2) of the 1999 Act allows for further support to be provided as necessary if the circumstances of a particular case are exceptional. For example:
• if an applicant has a need that is essential and different to the needs of asylum seekers in general; or
• if the applicant has a common need which is more expensive to meet due to their circumstances.
Applications for additional support are considered on a case-by-case basis. [82] The additional support may be provided in cash, in kind, by changes to accommodation arrangements or in other ways.
Legal basis for subsistence support
Some of the support rates are specified in regulations; others are set as a matter of policy.
The Asylum Support Regulations 2000 (as amended) specify the weekly rate of cash support for essential living needs which is generally to be provided to people in self-catered accommodation. [83]
The regulations allow for a reduced rate for people who have some essential needs met by their asylum accommodation (such as meals). [84] The value of the reduced rate isn't specified in the regulations.
3.2 Reviewing and amending cash support rates
Review process
The Home Secretary has an ongoing duty to ensure asylum seekers aren't left destitute, but there isn't any statutory obligation to review asylum support rates with any frequency or to uprate them in line with inflation.
The Home Office conducts regular reviews (generally, annually) to ensure the rates remain sufficient to cover asylum seekers' essential living needs. [85] Selected voluntary sector organisations are invited to make submissions to the reviews. [86] The Home Office sometimes publishes the reports of its reviews on GOV.UK. [87]
Changes to the value of subsistence support payments for people in self- catered accommodation are usually made as amendments to the Asylum Support Regulations 2000. [88] However, on occasions (such as during the Covid-19 pandemic) interim changes to support rates have been made by policy decision.
In recent years some changes to asylum support rates have been made because of court rulings. For example, in December 2022 the High Court found that the Home Secretary had acted unlawfully and irrationally by failing to decide an emergency uplift to asylum support rates during 2022 (after officials had advised changes were necessary to avoid a breach of statutory responsibilities because of rapidly rising inflation). [89]
For the most recent set of changes, in effect from January 2024, the Home Office adopted a new methodology to identify price changes that had occurred since the 2020 review had set base rates for asylum support.
This included using a different approach to identifying costs for food compared to non-food categories. [90] As a result, the weekly support rate for people in self-catered accommodation has increased from £47.39 to £49.18 and the rate for people in catered accommodation has been reduced from £9.58 to £8.86.
3.3 Recent scrutiny of support rates
Asylum rights campaigners have long argued that the basic subsistence support rate is insufficient to provide for asylum seekers' essential living needs. [91]
In November 2023 the British Red Cross published analysis showing that asylum support rates have declined by 28% when adjusted for inflation since the asylum support system began in 2000. [92]
In December 2023 the advocacy non-governmental organisation Asylum Matters published the findings of a survey of over 300 people living on asylum support. [93]
Respondents were asked whether they could pay for the items they needed. 91% said they don't always have enough money to buy food; 75% said they can't always afford the medicines they need; 97% reported difficulties affording the clothes they need; 95% said they can't always afford to travel where they need to by public transport; and 83% said asylum support payments aren't enough to cover the rise in the cost of living. The charity said its findings suggested things had become more difficult for asylum seekers since its previous survey in 2020. [94]
The Women and Equalities Committee considered evidence on the adequacy of asylum support payments, including from people with lived experience of the asylum system, as part of a broader inquiry into Equality and the UK asylum process conducted between 2021 and 2023. [95] It received evidence that a range of protected groups faced specific challenges meeting their essential living costs with asylum support, including LGBT people (who could not afford to pay for travel to support services they needed), people who had travel costs related to medical conditions and a need for healthcare services, and women (particularly those with children).
The committee's report was published in June 2023. It endorsed some voluntary sector calls for asylum support rates to be set at 70% of the standard rate of Universal Credit for a single adult over 25. [96] It also recommended the Government consider increasing asylum support rates for women to address concerns about period poverty.
The Government's response reiterated the Home Office's longstanding view that it is inappropriate to align asylum support with a proportion of the rate of Universal Credit. It said Universal Credit is provided for different purposes and covers a broader range of costs, some of which don't apply to asylum seekers or are covered by asylum support in other ways. [97]
The Government also said it was content that rates were sufficient to allow individuals in self-catered accommodation to meet their needs for period products and noted that it is a contractual requirement that accommodation providers supply them to residents in catered accommodation. [98]
4 Grounds to refuse or withdraw support
There are various conditions attached to the provision of asylum support. Support may be suspended or discontinued if a person breaches the support conditions.
Asylum seekers are expected to adhere to various conditions attached to the provision of their asylum support. [99]
The Asylum Support Regulations list various permitted reasons for suspending or withdrawing asylum support. [100] They include unauthorised absences from accommodation, concealing financial resources, and failure to comply with requests for information. Asylum seekers must also comply with rules specific to their asylum accommodation. The extent of a person's compliance may be considered when deciding whether to provide or continue to provide support. [101]
People receiving section 95 support must inform the Home Office of a "relevant change of circumstances" as listed in the asylum support regulations. [102] These include changes to the person's relationship status, household composition, address, or employment status. Notification of a change of circumstances may provoke a reassessment of the person's eligibility for asylum support. [103]
Home Office policy guidance has further information about the approach taken to investigating a breach of conditions and withdrawing support. [104]
4.2 Rights of appeal against refusal or withdrawal of support
Certain decisions to refuse or withdraw asylum support have a right of appeal to the First-Tier Tribunal (Asylum Support), including withdrawal of section 95 support before the asylum claim has been fully determined and the refusal of section 95 support. [105]
It isn't possible to appeal against a refusal of section 98 support (aside from judicial review), but it is possible to ask the Home Office to reconsider the decision.
A notice of appeal must be lodged within three working days of someone receiving of a letter refusing support. [106] Legal aid is only available to people appealing a decision that includes accommodation.
The tribunal is based in London. Appeals may be considered in an oral hearing (in person, video hearing or by telephone) or considered without a hearing (on the papers).
When determining an appeal, tribunal judges can either request that UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) reconsider its decision, substitute UKVI's decision with one of their own, or dismiss the appeal. [107] Decisions by Asylum Support Tribunal judges can only be challenged by judicial review. [108]
If an appeal is dismissed, the Home Office would only consider a further application for support if satisfied there has been a material change in circumstances. [109]
5 Useful resources and further reading
5.1 Useful resources for casework queries
Advice-giving organisations
Migrant Help is a charity funded by the Home Office to provide advice and guidance to asylum seekers. The Asylum section on its website includes information about the asylum support system, multilingual information and guidance for asylum seekers, and details of how to access its services.
The contact details for the Asylum Support Application UK helpline for asylum seekers are listed on the Asylum Helplines page on GOV.UK.
The Asylum Support Appeals Project is a charity providing legal advice and representation on asylum support issues. It has various factsheets on aspects of the asylum support regime on its website.
UKVI guidance
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.
More detailed operational policy guidance for UKVI staff 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.
Details of the Home Office's channels to correspond with MPs, which can be used to make representations or enquiries about individual cases, are available from the parliamentary intranet.
Home Office contractual requirements
Guides to the AASC and AIRE contracts, written by the charity Asylum Matters, provide detailed overviews of the contracts and the expectations and obligations that the service providers are subject to.
Statistics
The Immigration statistics quarterly release tables, available from GOV.UK, include information about applications for section 95 and section 4 asylum support, and populations by local authority.
5.2 Parliamentary scrutiny and reports
Debates and urgent questions
• Westminster Hall debate, UK Asylum system and asylum seekers' mental health, HC Deb 13 April 2021 c59-76WH
• Westminster Hall debate, Asylum accommodation contracts, HC Deb 10 October 2018 c113-140WH
Reports
• National Audit Office, Investigation into asylum accommodation, HC 635, 20 March 2024
• National Audit Office, The asylum and protection transformation programme, HC 1375, 14 June 2023
• Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration and HM Inspectorate of Prisons, An inspection of the use of contingency asylum accommodation – key findings from site visits to Penally Camp and Napier Barracks, 8 March 2021
• Home Affairs Committee, Home Office preparedness for COVID-19: institutional accommodation, HC 562 of 2019-21, 28 July 2020 and Government response, HC 973 of 2019-21, 13 November 2020.
• National Audit Office, Asylum accommodation and support, HC 375 of 2019-21, 3 July 2020
• Public Accounts Committee, Asylum accommodation and support transformation programme, HC 683 of 2019-21, 20 November 2020 and Government response, HC 683 of 2019-21, 25 March 2021.
• Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, An inspection of the Home Office's management of asylum accommodation provision February – June 2018, 20 November 2018 and Home Office response.
• Home Affairs Committee, Asylum accommodation: replacing COMPASS, HC 1758 of 2017-19, 17 December 2018 and Government response, HC 2016 of 2017-19, 8 March 2019.
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[1] The Asylum Support Regulations 2000, SI 2000/704 as amended and the Asylum Seekers (Reception Conditions) Regulations 2005, SI 2005/7
[3] R (NB&Ors) v SSHD [2021] EWHC 1489 (Admin)
[4] Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, s95; SI 2000/704, reg 7
[5] Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, s98
[6] Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, s95(3); SI 2000/704, reg 8, 9
[7] SI 2005/7, reg 5 and Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, s122
[8] Refused families with children under 18 may continue to receive support until they leave the UK.
[9] If the Home Office subsequently decides to consider the inadmissible application, the person becomes eligible for section 95 support again: Home Office, Ceasing Section 95 Support instruction v2.0, p.10, 7 July 2023
[10] Support may also be provided to cover certain expenses incurred in connection with their asylum claim (but not legal expenses) and to attend related bail proceedings.
[11] 4% (4,650) of people seeking asylum in the UK were in receipt of subsistence only support at the end of December 2023: Home Office, 'How many people do we grant protection to?', 29 February 2024
[12] The Asylum Seekers (Reception Conditions) Regulations 2005, SI 2005/7, reg 4
[13] Compulsory school age in the UK is five and children must start school on 31 December, 31 March or 31 August following their fifth birthday, whichever comes first. School leaving age differs in the four parts of the UK but is mostly dependent on when a child turns 16. In England it is compulsory to take part in education, training, an apprenticeship or volunteering in some capacity until an individual turns 18.
[14] Home Office, Permission to work and volunteering for asylum seekers, v15.0, 4 April 2024, p.6
[15] Immigration rules (HC 395 of 1993-4 as amended), part 11B, paras 360 – 360E
[16] Immigration rules, para 360A
[17] Home Office, Permission to work and volunteering for asylum seekers, v12.0, p.16
[18] Local authorities don't have responsibilities towards people whose needs arise solely because of destitution.
[19] Home Office, Asylum seekers with care needs, v2, 3 August 2018
[20] Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, s55(1)
[21] Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, s55(5)(a)
[22] R(oao Adam, Limbuela and Tesema) –v- SSHD [2005] UKHL 66
[23] UKVI, Section 55 guidance, v12
[24] Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, sections 105-6
[25] Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, section 113
[26] Households with children under 18 can stay until departure from the UK (subject to limited exceptions).
[27] Home Affairs Committee, Asylum accommodation: replacing COMPASS, HC1758, 17 December 2018, paras 65-6
[28] Home Office, News story, 'New asylum accommodation contracts awarded', 8 January 2019
[29] Home Affairs Committee, Asylum accommodation: replacing COMPASS, HC1758, 17 December 2018, para 8
[30] Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, section 96(1)
[32] R (NB) v SSHD [2021] EWHC 1489 (Admin)
[33] R (SA) v SSHD [2023] EWHC 1787 (Admin), para 9, 10
[34] Free Movement, '"High hurdle" for hotel accommodation challenges?', 27 March 2023; 'Mother and four children spent over a year in 'inadequate' accommodation', 20 July 2023; 'High Court condemns treatment of asylum seekers unlawfully held at Napier barracks', 3 June 2021
[35] This briefing doesn't take account of powers to hold asylum seekers in immigration detention whilst their cases are being processed.
[36] National Audit Office, Asylum accommodation and support, HC 375, 3 July 2020, para 1.5
[37] Home Office, A guide to living in initial accommodation, 5 December 2023
[38] For background, see Commons Library, Asylum accommodation: the use of hotels and military barracks
[39] HC Deb 13 December 2022 c885-888
[40] HC Deb 24 October 2023 c744; GOV.UK, 'Home Office to exit first 50 asylum hotels by the end of January', 24 October 2023
[41] As a matter of policy, there are limitations on the length of time a person is expected to spend in the large-scale sites.
[42] PQ 93608 [Asylum: Temporary Accommodation], answered on 2 October 2020
[43] PQ 169963 [Asylum: Military Bases], answered on 22 March 2021
[44] The Town and Country Planning (Napier Barracks) Special Development Order 2021, SI 2021/962
[45] AASC Schedule 2 Statement of Requirements (PDF), DEP 2018-1112
[46] See, for example, Home Affairs Committee, Asylum accommodation, HC 637, 31 January 2017
[47] GOV.UK, Home Office, 'New asylum accommodation contracts awarded', 8 January 2019
[48] Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, s97; The Asylum Support Regulations 2000, SI 2000/704 (as amended)
[49] Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, s97(3)
[50] Home Office, Allocation of asylum accommodation policy v10.0, 9 October 2023, p.8-10
[51] Home Office, Allocation of asylum accommodation policy v10.0, 9 October 2023, p.9
[52] Home Office, Allocation of asylum accommodation policy v11.0, 12 February 2024, p.17
[53] National Audit Office, COMPASS contracts for the provision of accommodation for asylum seekers, HC 880 of 2013-4, 10 January 2014, para 1.6
[54] Home Office, A fairer asylum accommodation system (PDF), 14 April 2022
[55] See, for example, , 'Majority of asylum seekers and refugees housed in poorer areas while dozens of councils support none', the Independent, 8 November 2019; Home Affairs Committee, Asylum accommodation: replacing COMPASS (PDF), HC 1758, 17 December 2018, para 71, 90-1; Home Affairs
[56] Home Office, Letter from Chris Philp MP to local authority chief executives (PDF), 27 March 2020
[57] Home Office, A fairer asylum accommodation system (PDF), 14 April 2022
[58] London Councils, Member briefing: Asylum dispersal, 22 March 2023
[59] London Councils, Member briefing: Asylum dispersal, 22 March 2023
[60] National Audit Office, The asylum and protection transformation programme, HC 1375, 14 June 2023, para 3.18
[61] National Audit Office, The asylum and protection transformation programme, HC 1375, 14 June 2023, para 3.17
[62] HC Deb 27 November 2023 c548
[63] National Audit Office, The asylum and protection transformation programme, HC 1375, 14 June 2023, para 2.17
[64] Asylum Support Regulations 2000, SI 2000/704, reg 10 as amended by The Asylum Support (Amendment) Regulations 2023, SI 2023/1372
[65] GOV.UK, Asylum support, 'What you'll get' (accessed 23 January 2024)
[66] Home Office, Asylum support (Asylum instructions), Applications for additional support, v1.0, 16 March 2017, p.4
[67] R (Refugee Action) v SSHD [2014] EWHC 1033 (Admin)
[68] Sumaya Ghulam, K, YT and RG v SSHD 2016 EWHC 2639 (Admin)
[69] Home Office, Report on review of weekly allowances paid to asylum seekers and failed asylum seekers: 2021, 19 April 2022; Home Office, Report on the allowances paid to asylum seekers and failed asylum seekers: 2020 (PDF), 7 December 2021
[70] Home Office, Report on review of cash allowance paid to asylum seekers: 2017, January 2018, v1.0
[71] Asylum Support Regulations 2000/704, reg 10
[72] In full, 'Asylum Support Entitlement Card'. See PQ 260049 [Asylum: Finance], 11 June 2019, for the Government's reasons for adopting the cards.
[73] PQ HL9832 [Asylum: Finance], answered on 18 September 2023
[74] Privacy International, Big Brother says 'No: Surveillance and income management of asylum seekers through the ASPEN Card', 16 October 2019
[75] Privacy International, Big Brother says 'No: Surveillance and income management of asylum seekers through the ASPEN Card', 16 October 2019
[76] PQ 217612 [Asylum: Finance], answered on 21 February 2019
[77] PQ 217613 [Asylum: Finance], answered on 21 February 2019
[78] Asylum Support Regulations 2000, SI 2000/704 as amended, reg 10A;
[79] The Asylum Support (Amendment) Regulations 2023, SI 2023/1372, reg 2(3)
[80] Asylum seekers are given a small additional allowance to buy vitamins whereas the Healthy Start scheme provides them in kind.
[81] Home Office, Asylum support policy bulletins, chapter 17 (accessed 31 January 2024)
[82] Home Office, Applications for Additional Support, v1.0, 16 March 2017
[83] Asylum Support Regulations 2000, SI 2000/704 (as amended), reg 10(2)
[84] Asylum Support Regulations 2000, SI 2000/704 (as amended), reg 10(5)
[85] This reflects the intention of the government of the time when the 1999 act was going through Parliament: HL Deb 20 October 1999 c1164
[86] The Asylum Support (Amendment) Regulations 2023, explanatory memorandum (PDF), para 10.1
[87] GOV.UK, Research and analysis, Report on review of cash allowance paid to asylum seekers, (accessed 23 January 2024)
[88] PQ HL5099 [Asylum: Finance], answered on 9 February 2023
[89] R(CB) v SSHD [2022] EWHC 3329 (Admin)
[90] The Asylum Support (Amendment) Regulations 2023, SI 2023/1372, explanatory memorandum (PDF), para 7.3
[91] For example, as referenced in Home Office reviews of asylum support rates in 2017, 2020 and 2021.
[92] British Red Cross, State of the Nation: access to support in the asylum system, 30 November 2023
[93] Asylum Matters, Surviving in poverty: A report documenting life on asylum support, December 2023
[94] Asylum Matters, Locked into poverty: Life on asylum support (PDF), November 2020
[95] Women and Equalities Committee, Equality and the UK asylum process, HC 93, 27 June 2023, paras 95 - 111
[96] Women and Equalities Committee, Equality and the UK asylum process, HC 93, 27 June 2023, para 111
[97] Women and Equalities Committee, Equality and the UK asylum process: Government's response, HC 1825, 19 September 2023, p.9
[98] Women and Equalities Committee, Equality and the UK asylum process: Government's response, HC 1825, 19 September 2023, p.9-10
[99] Home Office, A Home Office Guide to Living in Dispersal Accommodation, March 2023, section 1
[100] Asylum Support Regulations, SI 2000/704 (as amended), reg 20
[101] Asylum Support Regulations, SI 2000/704 (as amended), reg 19
[102] Asylum Support regulations, SI 2000/704 (as amended), reg 15
[103] Asylum Support regulations, SI 2000/704 (as amended), reg 15(3-4)
[104] Home Office, Conditions of Support, v2.0, 7 March 2023
[105] Except refusal of support under sections 55 or 57 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002
[106] The Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Social Entitlement Chamber) Rules 2008, SI 2008/2685, reg 22(2)(a)