UK
Asylum seekers get 10 per cent cost of living boost, after Home Secretary loses high court case

Charles Hymas
Thu, December 22, 2022 

Home Secretary was advised by officials to uprate asylum seekers’ support to meet the rising cost of living - Jessica Taylor/Reuters

Asylum seekers are to get a 10 per cent cost of living boost after Suella Braverman was found by the high court to have acted unlawfully in failing to give them the increase.

Internal documents reveal the Home Secretary was advised by Home Office officials in the summer to uprate asylum seekers’ support to meet the rising cost of living or risk breaching the Government’s legal duty to ensure asylum seekers were not left destitute.

In a damning high court ruling seen by the Telegraph, Mr Justice Fordham said the Home Secretary had acted unlawfully by failing to increase the subsistence allowance from £40.85p a week to £45 a week after inflation spiralled from three per cent to more than 10 per cent.

The judge took the unusual step of issuing a “mandatory order” forcing the Home Secretary to implement an immediate increase in the rate of asylum support to £45, which will affect at least 85,000 asylum seekers at a cost to the taxpayer of £18 million a year.

Mr Justice Fordham said: “The failure to consider this issue and make any decision was unlawful. In public law terms this, in my judgement, was an abdication of function.

“It was a failure to take into account relevant matters; a failure to consider matters; a failure to take into account a significant factor which the [Secretary of State] was bound to take into account.”

The disclosure comes just a day after internal emails revealed the Home Office acted illegally in keeping up to 500 asylum seekers in the Manston processing centre beyond the statutory 24 hours. The Home Office defended its action on the basis that they had a responsibility to prevent them falling into destitution.

The case was brought by a 32-year-old Nigerian mother of three children aged six to eight who sought asylum in November last year after fleeing domestic violence. Her eldest child suffers cerebral palsy and sickle cell disease.

She was granted asylum support of £163.40 a week (based on £40.85p each for her and her children) and housed in a two-bedroomed home in Liverpool where the children attended state school.

She spoke of having to choose between buying Calpol or food for her children, which child to buy clothes for, not having enough money to pay for household cleaning products, basic educational items or sanitary products for herself.

“I’m going without the clothes, toiletries, and food that I need, to try to give as much as I can to the children. When I speak to my friends at the church, they tell me that they are facing the same problems,” she said.

‘Choose between Calpol and food’

In the nine months to July 2022, the inflation rate jumped from 3.1 per cent to 10.1 per cent, prompting Home Office officials to carry out a review. In written advice to ministers dated Aug 31, they said it had been done to meet their “legal duty to ensure asylum seekers are not left destitute by providing support”.

They set out three options including an uplift or one-off payment of £96.24p but no action was taken. It coincided with the departure of Priti Patel as Home Secretary and Mrs Braverman taking over but the judge said the changeover “cannot provide a lawful basis for the failure”.

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said it was “very concerned” the Government had “overlooked” its legal obligation, affecting a backlog of up to 147,000 asylum seekers awaiting a decision.

“The claimant’s distressing experience of having to choose between Calpol and food and not having enough money for her children’s essentials is representative of countless others who are stuck in limbo in the asylum system,” he said.

“Over 140,000 people are waiting for a decision on their claim, banned from working and so dependent on the Home Office for accommodation and financial support. The Home Office must increase these payments to reflect actual need, and prioritise clearing the backlog so people can start rebuilding their lives.”