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Court decision saves asylum-seekers from total destitution

By Liz Fekete

1 December 1996

The High Court has ruled, in four test cases, that the government acted illegally by passing provisions in the Asylum and Immigration Act which, in effect, left 10000 asylum-seekers destitute by removing access to welfare benefits and public housing.

Local authorities, ruled Justice Collins, have a duty dating back to welfare state legislations (the 1945 National Assistance Act) to provide 'the basics for survival' for those in need.

The case was brought against Westminster, Hammersmith & Fulham and Lambeth councils by the Refugee Council on behalf of four asylum-seekers: a Chinese, an Iraqi Kurd, a Romanian and an Algerian.

The situation in London

An estimated 10000 asylum-seekers - 90 per cent of whom live in London - have been rendered destitute by the Asylum and Immigration Act. Soup kitchens and day centres have been opened as emergency provision in some parts of the capital. Bob Lewis, president-elect of the Association of Directors of Social Services, warned that they might have to stop moving elderly people out of hospitals because of the crippling cost of supporting destitute asylum-seekers through raiding community care budgets.

Following the High Court decision, the Association of London Government (ALG) appealed to central government on behalf of local authorities across London for more funds, as it estimates that the cost to the London boroughs will be £35 to £40 million in the current year and £90 million in 1997/98. Representatives of the voluntary sector have also complained that they have been given no added resources to meet the crisis. But, in the last resort, it is refugee communities themselves - already shouldering so many burdens - who are taking on the additional tasks of housing and feeding destitute asylum-seekers. And it is refugee communities and impoverished asylum-seekers who are now at risk from media vilification, far-Right attack and smouldering community resentment, in a climate where the resources of local authorities to cope are diminishing daily.

London Update No 3, Autumn 1996, Guardian 9, 17.10.96

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