ICAR

Destitution

Destitution amongst asylum seekers and refugees in the UK has begun to receive more attention in recent years.  Work on this issue largely remains at a local level and is carried out by refugee organisations often in conjunction with local authorities or more mainstream charities such as Oxfam.

There is no specific Home Office policy on tackling asylum-related destitution and there are no centrally collated statistics on the subject. Recent interaction between the Home Office and groups working with destitute asylum seekers came in response to the implementation of a number of policies, most notably Section 55 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 . Refugee advocacy groups suggested this policy would make more asylum seekers destitute. For the government, this legislation accords with a broader policy of deterrence and tackling ‘abuse of the asylum system’. Other legislation that has been criticised for causing destitution, such as Section 9 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 2004 , accords with the government’s policy to create ‘incentives for voluntary return’.

Defining destitution

Destitution has been defined by various organisations in similar but distinct ways. The Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 defines a person to be destitute if they do not have adequate accommodation or any means of obtaining it (whether or not his other essential living needs are met); or they have adequate accommodation or the means of obtaining it, but cannot meet other essential living needs. Some organisations define destitution by the inability to access statutory support mechanisms, others by the reliance on friends, family and charitable groups for basic subsistence and/or accommodation. It can also be defined by its symptoms or effects, such as homelessness. In this briefing, destitution is considered in the broadest possible terms to allow the use of findings from all reports.

Last Updated: 26/01/10

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