Escape to poverty

Ben, 15 months old, lies on the floor in his bare living room, crying intermittently. His mother Zara puts on his coat to protect him from the cold in their empty flat. A plastic trike lies abandoned at the far side of the room – too small for Ben and the only toy in the room. It feels as if they have just moved in and are waiting for their belongings to arrive. But this is all Zara and Ben have.

It is an austere room and Zara tells how she was forced to come here: ‘I was raped and fled the war in Liberia when my life was at stake. I arrived in the UK in 2013 and applied for asylum. My application was refused. I was terrified of being sent back to Liberia. All my support was cut off and I was left destitute on the streets in London.

‘Then I met Ben’s dad. We came to Glasgow together, but when he couldn’t accommodate us any more I was destitute again – this time with Ben, who was 10 months old.’

The numbers of asylum seekers experiencing destitution in Britain is growing.

According to the Scottish Refugee Council (SRC), the main reason they become destitute is when, like Zara, their claim for asylum is rejected and they are too frightened or unable to return to their country of origin. In Glasgow 76.5 per cent of the destitute asylum seekers in this study had their claims refused.

Once an asylum seeker’s application is rejected all state support is cut (unless they have children) and they are evicted from their accommodation.

The SRC found that many asylum seekers facing destitution in Glasgow are from countries difficult or dangerous to return to such as Iraq, Zimbabwe and Eritrea. Asylum seekers also become destitute due to administrative errors or while they are waiting to access mainstream support once granted refugee status. Once cut off from state support and with no legal means of earning money, asylum seekers turn to friends, family and the voluntary sector in order to survive.

In Glasgow the SRC offers advice, advocacy services and grants on behalf of the Refugee Survival Trust. Other organisations providing assistance to asylum seekers include Positive Action In Housing (PAIH) – a charity that assists minority ethnic and refugee communities – and smaller community-based organisations such as the Castlemilk Community Forum, faith groups and the Red Cross.

After two months walking the streets of Glasgow with Ben in his pushchair and sleeping on friends’ floors, Zara’s church put her in contact with PAIH. ‘During that time I had nothing,’ Zara says. ‘PAIH helped me with nappies and baby food and found me a solicitor.’ With the help of her solicitor, Zara lodged a fresh claim and then was entitled to apply for Section 4 support – the only form of support left if an asylum claim is rejected. This type of maintenance offers basic accommodation and £35 worth of vouchers each week to be spent in a supermarket.

Zara is one of 228 destitute people PAIH assisted last year. A team of multilingual caseworkers and volunteers provide advice, distribute an emergency fund and direct their clients to legal services. Volunteers include previously destitute asylum seekers who once came to PAIH as clients, such as Serdar, a Kurdish man who volunteers as an interpreter. The charity runs a network of volunteers who open their homes for short periods to provide emergency accommodation.

PAIH keeps in contact with clients once they have been given support under Section 4. Some, such as Zara, experience problems with the housing they are allocated: ‘Our accommodation is run by an agency. Sometimes the heating will go off. Sometimes I’ve had to stay in the dark,’ she says. ‘We couldn’t get electricity to heat up food. My baby was screaming. This happened twice during the winter.’

Iain Chisholm, one of PAIH’s caseworkers, highlights the stress and vulnerability destitute asylum seekers experience: ‘One of our clients from the Ivory Coast fainted the first time she visited our office. She was so anxious about her situation she lost her voice for three weeks. We had to communicate by writing.’

Last year, 13 pregnant women came to PAIH’s office for help. All of them were rejected asylum seekers and destitute as a result. Project officer Elodie Mignard is assisting Yuan from China who is six months pregnant. ‘She needs to lodge a fresh claim for Section 4 support and we are liaising with organisations to get medical documentation to prove her pregnancy,’ Elodie says.

‘She is staying with a volunteer and I hope she can continue to do so until her Section 4 support comes through. We have found in the past pregnant women do not sleep well in hostels where it is more difficult for them to cook healthy food and rest.’

Elodie emphasises how important it is that destitute clients have access to legal advice: ‘With destitution the person is most concerned about where they are going to sleep that night. Housing officers can signpost the destitute asylum seeker to a legal advice centre if they have lost contact with their solicitor.’

With legal help Mary Semiru from Uganda and her two-year-old twins have obtained indefinite leave to remain in the UK. The family was forced into destitution after a dawn raid on their accommodation by authorities attempting to deport them back to Uganda. Mary was petrified of being sent back and went into hiding with her children.

In fact the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights concluded in March 2017 that ‘the government is practising a deliberate policy of destitution…’ But rejected asylum seekers such as Zara are choosing to face wretched poverty in Britain rather than being returned. Refugee Action’s interviews revealed almost half believed they would be killed or ‘disappear’ if they returned home.

‘There is a clear need for the government to ensure that asylum seekers receive good quality legal support so they do not end up wrongly refused protection and destitute at the end of the process,’ concludes the SRC’s report. The National Audit Office estimated there were between 155,000 and 283,000 asylum seekers whose claims had been rejected, but had not left the country in 2015.

Simon Hodgson, head of policy and communications at the SRC, says: ‘The government can end this policy of forced destitution immediately by providing financial support and accommodation to refused asylum seekers and by granting them permission to work until such a time as they can return to their country safely or have been granted permission to stay.’

Unlike other destitute people, asylum seekers are forbidden to work. ‘Not being allowed to work has had a really big effect,’ Zara says. ‘I would like to work and look after myself and my child rather than wait to be given vouchers.’ Amnesty International wants refused asylum seekers who cannot be returned to their country of origin to be given legal status.

New figures from the SRC show almost four out of 10 asylum seekers coming to them for help are destitute. PAIH anticipate an increase in the amount of destitute asylum seekers coming to seek assistance this year.

Today Zara and Ben continue to live on Section 4 support in their empty flat. Zara now studies business and administration. ‘It’s been hard, but I’m pushing myself to create a future,’ she says. Five years after arriving in Britain she is still waiting to be granted status as a refugee.