Social Care: Foreign and destitute

Aicha was forced into prostitution after her claim for asylum was rejected by the UK authorities and her financial support was stopped. She lived in constant fear that she would be sent back to her native Guinea.

"They told me I had to go back home, but it's not safe for me there, and because I said I wouldn't go back, they cut my support. So I ran away," she says. "Sometimes I would have to sleep outside. People started using me as well; men made me sleep with them."

Aicha, 28, has been in the UK for three years and now has a nine-month-old daughter. They are among an estimated 20,000 destitute asylum-seeking households in the UK. As Aicha is no longer with her child's father and is receiving only emergency support, she is unable to meet the most basic living costs.

Her case highlights the plight of many who have been refused asylum, yet are unable to return home to countries where there are serious human rights abuses or internal conflict, such as Guinea, Zimbabwe and Iraq. Women like Aicha who have had children since their claim was refused can be particularly vulnerable as they are not eligible for any of the enhanced support that other families might get.

Living in limbo

A fifth of the asylum cases that are more than three years old cannot be resolved, according to the latest National Audit Office figures, and charities working in this area have called on the government to grant temporary leave to remain for those who cannot return home through no fault of their own.

Sarah Cutler, head of policy and public affairs at the Refugee Council, says: "We are not deporting people, but nor are they being given temporary leave to remain. People are living in limbo. It all goes round in a horrible circle and the children are just caught in the middle."

Those who are refused asylum but who the government accepts cannot go home in the short term are entitled to "Section 4" support in the form of hostel accommodation and £35 a week in vouchers or, more recently, payment cards that can be spent in designated supermarkets.

Although this support is intended as a temporary measure only, some asylum seekers can live in this way for years. The voucher system means they cannot shop at markets where food is cheaper or buy clothes from charity shops, and it is hard to save for items such as school uniforms.

Alison Worsley, assistant director at Barnardo's, says: "Relying on vouchers or payment cards means families have little means of carrying money over from one week to the next. We would rather see them given cash to enable them to budget to meet their children's needs." Ultimately, she adds, "children in the system should be treated as children first and asylum seekers second".

Once an asylum claim is refused asylum support stops, meaning people such as Aicha slip into destitution along with their children. While failed asylum seekers can still use certain services, such as children's centres, they are not entitled automatically to use others. For example, it is up to the discretion of health visitors and GPs whether to register failed asylum seekers, especially if they have no fixed address.

Refugee Action campaigns officer Sara Ayech argues that asylum support should continue until such people leave the UK. "After you've been refused asylum, you are sent a letter giving you three weeks to vacate your accommodation before all support is cut off," she explains.

"We appreciate that there are people who should be taking steps to return home, but they need more advice and support, and their accommodation should continue while they make a decision about what to do next."

Worsley adds: "The system must be simple and easy for asylum seekers, and also those who have failed in their claim, to understand the support they can access. People don't know when they should be claiming, when they might have to reapply, what happens if they move or get refugee status."

But while refugee and children's charities argue that the system needs a complete overhaul, the government says it is right for support to be cut off from those refused asylum.

A spokesman for the UK Border Agency says: "There is no need for asylum seekers to be destitute. We provide measures that ensure individuals are not left destitute and we work to ensure that all are treated with respect and humanity. We do not consider that it is right to ask the UK taxpayer to continue to fund those who choose to remain here when they have no grounds to stay."

Changing this policy, he adds, would be a "disincentive" for unsuccessful asylum seekers to leave the country.

But Cutler argues that the system doesn't actually work. "If it worked, all the refused asylum seekers would have gone home by now," she says. "If you have nowhere to sleep and nothing to eat, you are not thinking longer term about what to do with your life. People cannot engage with something like returning home, because they are worrying about where their next meal is coming from."

Faced with destitution, refused asylum seekers turn for support to family and friends in impoverished refugee communities or, failing that, to charities and faith groups.

Aicha received help from a Children's Society project in Birmingham after she was dispersed to the city. It put her in touch with befriending support, helped her apply for a maternity grant and provided practical help such as food parcels and free legal advice on a new asylum claim.

She says: "It's a very good project, helping children. If you need any help or information, you just have to ask them and they will do whatever they can to help. They have helped me get to know Birmingham and make friends."

The project has helped about 100 families since it was set up in 2008 and The Children's Society is due to publish a report this spring on the scheme's work with destitute families. Project co-ordinator Andy Jolly says: "Accommodation is a huge problem. Typically we have families moving from place to place, staying on floors and sofas. This has a major impact on children. For example, going to school is a problem when you are moving from place to place. Often these families are living a hand-to-mouth existence, relying on food parcels and other donations."

Since March 2007, the New Asylum Model has meant cases are determined more quickly and the government is meeting its target to conclude 60 per cent of new asylum claims within six months.

Backlog of cases

However, there is still a backlog of cases of asylum seekers, many of whom have waited years for a decision. During this time they cannot work and are forced to rely on state support, which is less than 70 per cent of standard income benefit, although their rent and utilities are covered.

Ayech says: "Lots of families are facing extreme hardship. They cannot afford enough food for their children and they can't buy clothes or baby essentials. They cannot work and have no other means of support."

The parliamentary joint committee on human rights recommended in 2007 that asylum seekers be allowed to work, but the government has refused this, fearing it would encourage more false asylum claims from people who want to move to the UK for purely economic reasons.

Last month a consultation on reforming asylum support made it clear that the proposals are still designed primarily to prevent abuse of the system, says Cutler. "Asylum seekers are seen as 'principal applicant plus dependents'. The government doesn't see them as families — it is systematically leaving a category of families in poverty because they happen to be asylum seekers."

MY DAUGHTER HAS TO GO WITHOUT

Shakira and her 14-year-old daughter are forced to live on just over £40 a week while she awaits a decision on her asylum application.

Although her housing costs are covered, living on such a small amount is challenging. "In winter when we need warm clothes, it is very hard to also buy enough food," she explains. "And if my daughter needs new shoes, I have to spend really carefully for some weeks."

Shakira fled Bangladesh after years of abuse from her husband. When she converted to a different branch of Islam, she was threatened at gunpoint by extremists. Terrified, she fled to the UK with her daughter in 2006. At first, she lived in a house with water leaks, broken furniture and no heating, but at least she felt safe. She now lives in Bolton, has started to learn English at a local college and volunteers for charity Women Asylum Seekers Together.

Last October, lone parent asylum seekers' income was frozen at £42.81 a week — 66 per cent of standard income support. "I would like to work; it is boring to stay at home and me and my daughter have to go without," says Shakira.

Names have been changed

ASYLUM IN NUMBERS

£42.81 The weekly amount lone parent asylum seekers are entitled to receive

21 The number of days after which asylum support stops if a claim has been rejected

1,065 The number of children held in asylum detention centres last year

27% The percentage of asylum seekers who were granted permission to stay in the UK last year

2011 The year by which it is estimated the government will clear its backlog of asylum cases

111,111 The estimated number of children caught up in the backlog of asylum cases in 2008

Sources: Shelter, Office of National Statistics and Barnardo's