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Allowances for asylum seekers to be cut
30 Jul 2009Allowances for some asylum seekers are to be cut as part of a bid by the Government to slash costs in the face of the recession, it emerged.
Single people aged over 25 arriving in the UK to seek refuge from this autumn will receive £35.15 per week in subsistence payments instead of the present £42.16.
The UK Border Agency said a review had established that the payments had been overly generous in the past as accommodation and utility charges were met by the state.
A spokesman said: "In view of the difficult economic climate, support rates were reviewed this year to ensure that essential living needs of asylum seekers could be met within budgetary constraints.
"Historically, support for asylum seekers has been linked to Income Support rates. Income Support rates are higher for those over 25 and lone parents because they are more likely to be living independently.
"This does not apply to asylum seekers, who typically live in UK Border Agency accommodation and so have no housing costs, or water, gas or electricity bills."
Lone parent families would not end up worse off, the spokesman insisted, with the amount of money going to asylum-seeking children going up by 5.2%.
Reader views (16)
Nolan, Londonist - 'helping' anyone and everyone isn't a matter of compassion alone. It is also a matter of practicality, of hard cash, whether you like it or not. If you are saying that everyone's standard of living should be brought down to the lowest common denominator so that the (usually) economic migrants can have a better life than in the country they have left, then you are living in socialist cloud cuckoo land. For as long as 'benefit of doubt' is making UK citizens (of all races) pay the tab, those citizens have a say in how that money is spent. Playing the self-designated moral superiority card doesn't wash mate. Anger at having to foot the bill for other's standard of living is not irrational or greedy. You don't improve British lives by taking away from them (and btw - the resources our ancestors 'stole from the colonies' in the past are still there, just badly managed for the most part - not the fault of former colonial powers, and certainly not the fault of their descendants).
For as long as people are told they are 'entitled' to this help, they are going to move heaven and earth to get those freebies. When they are told they are entitled to ASK for help, they might get more sympathy. Help is a matter of informed choice, not blanket legal obligation.
- Rogan, Irving, 30/07/2009 17:10
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Hey, Nolan. Feel free to contribute your OWN money. Just don't play your moral fascism with ours.
- Danny, NW5, 30/07/2009 16:55
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Let's ask ourselves would we get asylum benefit in their country ?
Let's ask ourselves would we be allowed to sneak in their country ?
Let's ask ourselves would do gooders and Human Rights brigade demand compassion in their coutry ?
Let's ask ourselves would the citizens in thier country tolerate us and our way of life in their country ?
Need I Keep asking ?
- Joe, Swanley Kent, 30/07/2009 16:55
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It would be better if we stopped all immigration - at least for the foreseeable future - so that we can look after the people who are already here. We need our borders.
- Volpone, London, London, 30/07/2009 16:48
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They should get nothing,pensioners do not have any utility bills paid and have worked all their life,most of them ,in this country..what a farce!! no wonder they keep coming!! Labour party ouT !!
- Jean, London England, 30/07/2009 16:23
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Stop giving them anything at all. Encourage the lazy sherkers to work or pay them to go home. This is over crowded county, why do we need anymore people. Close the borders and make do with our own resources.
- Alan, LONDON, 30/07/2009 15:51
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They should be entitled to nothing until they take UK classes on our culture, tradition and laws; also made to sign a document that states if they break our laws, they are automatically barred from the country.
- Dirk Diggler, Soho, London, 30/07/2009 15:12
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I could never live on £35.15 per week, but I guess that's the idea most asylum seekers travel through France and northern Europe, the rules are clear they can only claim for the first port at which they arrive yet the French happily forward them on to us. Isn't Europe nice (SIC) Britain are the rented mules of the world
- Gary, Brentwood, 30/07/2009 13:30
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Government should go to a poorer EU country that is experiencing real hardship during this worldwide recession, and pay them to take these asylum seekers until their cases have been quantified.
Government is already paying out £8Billion a year in foreign aid, so give the recipients the sense that they are not charity cases.
- William, Hay~Heath UK, 30/07/2009 12:18
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I know someone who has been in this situation for five years. The level of money she receives means she live below the breadline as paid employment is not allowed. Considering MPs can spend £25/night without accounting what it was spent on this seems very mean spirited. The fact they cannot reach a decision in that time is yet another issue.
- Michael, London, 30/07/2009 10:04
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Asylum seekers?
A term that needs to be reclassified in the English Oxford dictionary I suggest.
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 30/07/2009 09:30
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I tell you what.
Don't give them anything unless they declare they are seeking asylum as soon as they arrive and provided they have not travelled through "safe" countries to get here.
- Mark, South-East London, 30/07/2009 09:29
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Too little too late, cut them off completely and they will stop comming. Not rocket science is it.
- Jimbob, Kensington, 30/07/2009 09:19
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how about removal altogether - this may stem the flow of benefit seeking spongers - all of whom are legally obliged to seek asylum in the first 'safe'country' anyway - and with France being safe the last time i checked - i would suggest that they all seek asylum there!!!
- Gary, amersham, 30/07/2009 09:19
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Before the usual reactions of hatred and spite are wheeled out against any possibility that it is a good thing to help our fellow humans when they're in trouble, take a deep breath and try this: Flex those unused empathy muscles and think about other people for a change. Ever tried living on £42 a week? It's very very hard.
- Nolan, Londonist, 30/07/2009 09:17
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"the amount of money going to asylum-seeking children going up by 5.2%".
BRITISH PENSIONERS CAN ONLY DREAM OF GETTING AN INCREASE OF 5.2% ON THEIR GBP18.57 PER DAY TO EXIST ON.
NO WONDER 400,000 PEEPS ARE LEAVING THE UK EVERY YEAR FOR A BETTER LIFE IN A MORE CIVILISED COUNTRY.
- Reuben Camara, Republic of Morecambe, UK, 30/07/2009 08:35
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