Asylum Support

Dear constituent,

Thank you for contacting me about support for asylum seekers during the coronavirus crisis.

I appreciate that concerns have been raised about the level of asylum support and the adequacy of this during this public health emergency.

The Government has now announced that the standard asylum support allowance has been raised to £39.60 per week from £37.75 per week, an increase of around 5%. The Government has stressed that the level of asylum support is not linked to social security rates.

I believe it is vital to deliver the correct, balanced approach to housing and related support services for asylum seekers and this should be kept under constant review. In addition, I believe the Government should ensure that all asylum seekers continue to have access to the healthcare they need, and specifically testing, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

More widely, I believe we need to see significant improvements in the asylum system. It is deeply concerning that the number of people waiting more than six months for a decision on their asylum claim has hit record levels. As of 31 March 2020, 31,516 asylum seekers had been waiting more than six months to receive an initial decision. This compares with 18,734 the year before – a 68% increase. Real people suffer when the Home Office takes too long to decide a claim. We are also seeing unacceptable error rates in decisions on asylum claims, indicating serious flaws in the decision-making process.

The UK has a proud history of providing asylum to people fleeing violence and persecution and I will continue to press the Government to ensure all claims are assessed fairly, humanely and in a timely way.

Thank you once again for contacting me about this issue.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Dowd MP