Support for sick and disabled asylum seekers being ‘cut off’

They say that councils are changing their attitude towards asylum seekers with serious disabilities or illnesses and reassessing their needs, following a landmark court case last year.

Before the ruling, known as the Slough judgement, asylum seekers were provided with residential accommodation by councils under section 21 of the National Assistance Act if they were ill, disabled or elderly. In effect, the ruling meant that to receive such accommodation now asylum seekers have to demonstrate they have a care need over and above the need for housing – for example, help to carry out household tasks.

This has left many reliant on section 4 support – emergency accommodation provided by the UK Border Agency. Home Office figures reveal the number of people receiving section 4 support has risen from 9,365 in the first quarter of 2008 to 10,850 in the first quarter of 2009.

A source at one provider of housing for section 21 asylum seekers on behalf of a council said it had already cut its budget by a third in anticipation of a drop off in referrals.

Asylum advice charity ASIRT claimed that in a recent case a council in the midlands had not told someone with a serious blood disorder that he was being reassessed.

He was refused support and told he would not be assessed for a third time even if he produced medical notes and had an advocate to speak on his behalf.

NRPF, a national network of local authorities which looks at their responsibilities towards people who are unable to access public funds, said it was currently trying to reach a consensus among local authorities and the UKBA about how to deal with the issue.

Olvia Fellas, head of equality, refugee and migrant services, said that if councils were reassessing an asylum seeker’s eligibility for accommodation ‘we need to tell them they are being reassessed and if someone doesn’t have a legal representative, they should be able to get one’.

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