Children's Society says some asylum seekers get half of what a comparable British family would receive in income support
More than 10,000 children of asylum seekers are being forced to live "far below the poverty line" because benefit payments are "shockingly low", according to a report by the Children's Society.
In a bleak assessment of how the welfare system treats asylum seekers, the charity says that in some cases recipients only get "half of what a comparable family would receive in income support". Unlike traditional benefits, which are uprated every year to take inflation into account, welfare payments to asylum seekers are increased at the discretion of politicians. With the UK Border Agency considering whether to raise these benefit levels, charities and senior Liberal Democrats are arguing for a more cash.
The Children's Society says current payments are "unacceptably low", forcing thousands of very vulnerable children to face severe hardship every day. It says a single person seeking refuge in Britain would receive £37 a week to live on, a little over a half that paid to a British citizen.
With children the situation is little better. A lone parent with a child aged 16 receives £83 a week, about £63 less than the comparable income support. The situation is exacerbated because the children of asylum seekers aged 16 and 17 are treated as adults within the system, representing a loss of £13 a week per teenager. A UK resident couple with a four-year-old child on income support would get £186 a week, around £15 more than the "severe poverty" line representing 40% of median income. But a similar asylum-seeking family would only get £125 a week – £66 below the severe poverty line.
"There is no logic in this, especially given that in most cases 16- and 17-year-olds are still considered children within the mainstream benefits system," says the report. Benefits in cash are paid to asylum seekers who are waiting for their claim to be assessed. While the charity accepts that benefits cannot be set so high that taxpayers feel aggrieved at handouts, it argues that asylum seekers are being consigned to severe poverty.
Refugees say they cannot, by law, work their way out of penury. Orijia, from west Africa, put in an application for asylum in 2009. Even though he is a graduate and is qualified as a healthcare assistant, he is not allowed to work because of his immigration status. With four young children all under the age of 10 – and with three born in the UK – he and his wife live on £292 a week. He says "money needed for taking his daughter to school, doing the shopping, taking the children to the park, buying clothes" all come out of this sum, which is £80 less than welfare offered to ordinary claimants. He says he is forced to rely on charity. "I thank Great Britain for its protection, but the authorities need to consider how we can live, without being allowed to work Without help from charities like The Children's Society life would be bad," he said.
The charity says that to bring welfare payments to reasonable levels amounts to less than £20m a year – affordable even in these tight times. Tom Brake, chair of the Lib Dem backbench committee on home affairs, said his party would be pushing to raise benefit levels. "As the government tightens up immigration controls and strengthens our borders it's a constructive measure to make the system more humane," he said. He warned that "if our coalition partners are not responsive then clearly it would be in our manifesto for the 2015 election".
A UK Border Agency spokesman said: "We take the welfare of children extremely seriously. Support is provided to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute until a decision on their application is made."
Enver Solomon, policy director at the Children's Society, said: "As the government reviews levels of asylum support, it is vital it takes into account children's needs and its commitment to tackling child poverty for all children by ensuring asylum support does not put children's health and well-being at risk."