Hammersmith and Fulham’s MPs are being asked to press the Home Secretary to reverse a cut in the welfare support for asylum seekers while their claim for refugee status is being considered.

Failure to do so, says Hammersmith and Fulham Refugee Forum, will result in more asylum seekers being plunged into destitution.

The Refugee Forum has written to Greg Hands and Andy Slaughter asking them to lobby for welfare support to be reinstated to a minimum of £45 per week. Support was cut last year with the result that most asylum seekers now only receive £5 per day to live on. This is causing more and more to slip into destitution, a fact that all agencies working for refugees have condemned.

The problem is exacerbated by the fact that asylum seekers are prevented by law from working while their asylum claims are being assessed even though it takes many months, and sometimes years, for claims to be decided.

“We reject the notion that rendering an asylum seeker destitute is in some way an incentive for them to return to their country of origin. There is no evidence to support this,” says the Refugee Forum in its letter to the MPs.

The majority of asylum seekers facing destitution are from Zimbabwe, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Eritrea, most of which ethnic groups are represented in the borough.

Even the UK Borders Agency, the government department responsible for immigration matters, has recognised the fact that cutting off support to asylum seekers increases, rather than reduces, the likelihood that they may disappear and start illegal jobs.

Further Information: Phil Cooper, Press Officer, Hammersmith and Fulham Refugee Forum on: 07889 949173.

Notes to Editors

• The Hammersmith and Fulham Refugee Forum is supporting the national campaign Still human, Still Here, in pressing the government to set asylum support rates at a minimum of 70% of Income Support or no less than £45 per week for single adults.

• There are currently 33 organisations represented on the Hammersmith & Fulham Refugee Forum with groups from the Horn of Africa, Zimbabwe, Iran and Iraq, Afghanistan and Kurdistan, and Bosnia among others.