Asylum: Housing

(asked on 7th September 2018) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers have had their housing provision removed before their asylum process was fully completed including the appeals process since 2012.


Answered by
Caroline Nokes Portrait
Caroline Nokes
This question was answered on 12th September 2018

Section 95 of the of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 provides that an asylum seeker is destitute and therefore eligible to receive accommodation and other support from the Home Office if:

a) he does not have adequate accommodation or the means of obtaining it (whether or not his other essential living needs are met);

or b)he has adequate accommodation or the means of obtaining it, but cannot meet his other essential living needs.

The definition is not changed by the re-tender of the Home Office asylum accommodation contracts. The legislation provides that, unless there are children in their household, a person ceases to be eligible to receive section 95 support 21 days after their asylum claim or any appeal is finally rejected. However, another form of support, including accommodation, is available under section 4(2) of the 1999 Act if the person is taking reasonable steps to leave the UK or there is a temporary or legal or practical obstacle that prevents their departure.

Cessation of s95 support occurs once an applicant is no longer eligible, through having exhausted all appeal rights, being granted a form of leave, has been removed from the country or having left the accommodation voluntarily. Operational checks are undertaken to ensure that there are no outstanding issues or applications, and support can be reinstated if information is received to the contrary.

There is no provision in the accommodation contracts that enable people who cease to qualify for section 95 support and do not qualify for section 4(2) support to continue to be housed.

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