Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of supporting work asylum seekers who do not qualify for benefits on local authority spending.

Asylum seekers are not eligible for mainstream benefits (such as universal credit) which are available to British citizens and other permanent residents. However, if they would otherwise be destitute, the Home Office currently has a legal duty to offer support, which generally consist of providing accommodation and a cash allowance to cover their essential living needs.

We will be revoking that duty, restoring a discretionary power for the Home Office to offer support, as previously provided under UK law.

We will deny support to those who are able to support themselves, or have deliberately made themselves destitute. We will remove support from those who fail to comply with UK law or conditions of support.

Details of how eligibility considerations will apply will be set out in published guidance in due course.