Our statement on Home Office response to High Court judgement on asylum support

Earlier this year the High Court ordered the Home Office to review asylum support. The Home Office has now announced that the level of support to a single adult asylum seeker will not be changing from its level of around £36 a week.

Andy Keefe, Director of National Clinical Services, Freedom from Torture, said:

"This Home Office decision will sentence Freedom from Torture clients to a continuing day-to-today struggle with destitution that their experience of trauma leaves them ill-equipped to deal with.

"Our therapists treat more than a 1,000 torture survivors a year with psychological therapies throughout England and Scotland. Many of these survivors suffer from complex, severe symptoms, including depression, anxiety, recurrent nightmares, panic attacks and distressing flashbacks .

"However on top of this vulnerability, below-the breadline levels of support mean many survivors do not have enough money to eat three times a day, or to buy toiletries or over the counter medicines, or do laundry, or catch a bus or 'phone a friend. Such daily struggles make them feel unsafe and affect their resilience and ability to recover from trauma.*

"The UK must do better by these individuals. As a signatory to the United Nations Convention Against Torture (UNCAT), the UK has committed itself under Article 14 to providing 'the means to as full rehabilitation as possible' to torture survivors. The right to rehabilitation under the convention is defined as including restoration as far as possible of "their independence, physical mental social and vocational ability and full participation in society."

"This definition of rehabilitation would point to the need for more dignified support levels that facilitate full social inclusion in UK society. We urge the Home Office to think again."

Examples of the impact of inadequate income on torture survivors are to be found in our report The Poverty Barrier: the Right to Rehabilitation for Survivors of Torture in the UK.

The Home Office has completed its review of asylum support rates following the High Court judgment of 9 April 2014 which ruled that the decision to freeze rates was flawed. The Home office has concluded that the current cash payments under Section 95 are sufficient to meet essential living needs and that the level of support will remain unchanged. The Home Office has based its calculation on ONS data of what households on the lowest income in the UK spend on essential items. By their estimation a single adult asylum seeker needs £36.45 to meet their essential living needs - 17 pence less than they are currently provided with. However, in general the calculation does not adequately take account of the vulnerability of asylum seekers compared to the general population and in the specific categories of clothing and communications the Home Office has adjusted the ONS figures down on the basis that they do not consider that asylum seekers would need to spend as much as UK households to meet their essential needs.

Take action

Freedom from Torture is supporting the Refugee Action-led campaign for a more dignified level of asylum support. From 10am on November 3rd until 5pm on November 7th, we are asking supporters to Tweet the following message to their MP:

As your constituent, I don't think asylum seekers should have to live on £5.23 a day. Please sign EDM 99:http://bit.ly/1vcD3Kf

You can find their MP on Twitter usingwww.tweetyourmp.com. If you prefer you can email your MP or write to them.  This draft letter to MPs can help you do this. You can also quote Freedom from Torture’s Poverty Barrier research.