Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to allocate additional (a) financial resources and (b) other support to local authorities to support asylum seekers who have had their claims rejected under streamlined asylum processing.

The Home Office has a legal obligation, as set out in the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (“the 1999 Act”), to support asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute.

If an asylum seeker has their asylum claim refused, they usually cease to be eligible to receive support provided under section 95 of the 1999 act 21 days after they are given notice that their asylum claim has been refused, or where there is an appeal, 21 days after their appeal is finally rejected. Asylum claims considered under the Streamlined Asylum Process will not be refused on the basis of the questionnaire alone. Where there is insufficient information in the questionnaire to grant protection status, the claimant will be invited to an interview in order to inform the decision.

Failed asylum seekers may be supported under section 4(2) of the 1999 Act if they meet certain eligibility criteria.