41. Memorandum submitted by
Shelter
1. SHELTER
Shelter is a national campaigning charity that
every year works with over 100,000 homeless and badly housed people
by providing expert housing information, advice and advocacy.
2. SHELTER'S
WORK WITH
ASYLUM APPLICANTS
2.1. In recent years, Shelter's housing
services have advised and supported an increasing number of people
who are awaiting, or have recently received, a decision on an
asylum claim. Between April 2001 and March 2002 Shelter's housing
services were contacted by 1,360 households experiencing housing
problems because of their asylum or immigration status. Our Homeless
to Home projects, currently operating in Birmingham, Bristol,
Nottingham and Sheffield, offer intensive resettlement support
to formerly homeless families to help them settle into their new
communities and to sustain their tenancies. They regularly work
with former asylum seeking families: an evaluation of the service
revealed that in the 30 months to October 2001, it had worked
with 271 families, 12% of whom did not have British citizenship.
2.2. Based on this experience, and following
investigative work in a number of local authority areas, Shelter
published Far from Home: the housing of asylum seekers in private
rented accommodation in January 2001. This report highlighted
the unacceptable housing conditions in which many people awaiting
an asylum decision were living. We are pleased that many of the
recommendations contained in the report have been accepted by
government and have welcomed the constructive dialogue we have
had with government since the report was published.
2.3. Shelter is represented on the Home
Office's National Refugee Integration Forum Accommodation Sub-Group.
This seeks to identify and address the housing difficulties faced
by people who have recently been recognised as refugees or given
leave to remain in the UK by making recommendations for the improvement
of legislation, policy and practice and by identifying good practice.
Our Homeless to Home resettlement projects regularly work with
former asylum seeking families: an evaluation of the service revealed
that in the 30 months to October 2001, it had worked with 271
families, 12% of whom did not have British citizenship.
3. EVIDENCE
Shelter welcomes the opportunity to submit evidence
to the Home Affairs Committee's inquiry into asylum applications.
As accommodation and related support is our area of expertise,
our evidence is restricted to the third point of the terms of
reference: the adequacy of support provided by the National Asylum
Support Service (NASS). Our assessment of the adequacy of NASS
support relates to three areas: the denial of support to destitute
people as a result of section 55 of the Nationality, Immigration
and Asylum Act 2002 (the 2002 Act); the appropriateness and quality
of accommodation and support provided to destitute people who
are granted NASS support; and the impact of the termination of
NASS support on people who are recognised as refugees or are granted
leave to remain in the UK.
3.1 The denial of support to destitute
people as a result of section 55 of the Nationality, Immigration
and Asylum Act 2002.
3.1.1 Shelter's most pressing concern in
relation to the provision of NASS support is section 55 of the
2002 Act. This prevents NASS from supporting destitute households
if it is not satisfied that they applied for asylum "as soon
as reasonably practicable" after their arrival in the UK.
Households with children under 18 are exempt from these provisions.
The clear evidence from our own legal work is that, when this
legislation was implemented on 8 January 2003, it was applied
in the strictest manner, denying support to all destitute, childless
households who applied for asylum once inside the UK rather than
at their port of entry. This left many destitute and vulnerable
people, many of whom had applied for asylum within hours of arriving
in the UK, without any means to secure a bed for the night or
obtain food.
3.1.2 On 19 February, the High Court ruled
that section 55 was likely to breach the Human Rights Act 1998.
Following the judgment, NASS began offering support to all destitute
people pending the outcome of the appeal of the judgment. Between
8 January and 19 February 2003, our legal team advised 47 households
who were facing street homelessness as a result of section 55
of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. These included:
— A seven-month pregnant woman and
her partner, who entered the UK in a lorry. They fled Iran to
escape a sentence of execution, passed by a religious court because
of the nature of their relationship. As a consequence of their
journey, the woman was unconscious when the lorry entered the
port. Her partner approached the port authorities to claim asylum
and summon urgent medical assistance. The woman spent four days
recovering in hospital with her partner at her side. NASS claimed
it was not satisfied that the couple had claimed asylum as soon
as reasonably practicable. Support was granted to the woman to
prevent a breach of her human rights but her partner was refused
support.
— A young man who entered the UK with
the assistance of an agent. He fled Cameroon having suffered a
serious physical human rights abuse, which is still evident. Speaking
no English, he sought assistance from the Refugee Council, and
consequently made a claim for asylum the following day. NASS claimed
it was not satisfied that he had claimed asylum as soon as reasonably
practicable and he was refused support. At the time of his referral
to Shelter he had been sleeping in the car park of a police station
for several nights. The local health authority asylum seeker team
is very concerned about his physical and mental health. He appears
to be suicidal and has been referred to a psychiatrist.
3.1.3 The Court of Appeal found that whilst,
in theory, section 55 does not breach the Human Rights Act 1998,
in practice breaches may occur. This would depend on how the legislation
was applied in each individual case. It would also depend on whether
individuals refused support were able to obtain charitable assistance
to avoid declining into a state that would constitute a breach
of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. NASS
claims that its support application assessment procedures are
being radically overhauled but has not yet published guidance
on how it now intends to practically apply the legislation.
3.1.4 Shelter is extremely concerned that
section 55 will continue to result in some very vulnerable people
being left destitute and, in some cases, having to sleep on the
street. There are very few charitable services on offer to homeless
people who do not qualify for welfare benefits. From April 2003,
the only charitable accommodation in England and Wales available
to destitute people denied NASS support are two night shelters
with 51 beds. Both are in central London. This illustrates that
there is no capacity in existing service provision for a large,
additional category of street homeless people. If people denied
NASS support under section 55 are able to find a bed in either
of these shelters, this will be at the expense of another homeless
person and net rough sleeping will be increased.
3.1.5 Shelter believes that accommodation
should be allocated on the basis of need and not on the basis
of a household's immigration status or when they applied for asylum.
We recommend that the Government repeals section 55 of the 2002
Act and reverts to a system of accommodating all destitute asylum
applicants.
3.2. The appropriateness and quality
of support provided to destitute people who are granted NASS support
3.2.1 Shelter's report Far from Home:
the housing of asylum seekers in private rented accommodation
illustrated the dangerous living conditions that can result
from vulnerable asylum applicants being placed, on a no-choice
basis, in private rented accommodation. For example, the study
on which the report was based found that 80% of asylum-seeking
households living in houses in multiple occupation had inadequate
means of escape from fire. The report warned that lives would
be at risk if accommodation continued to be contracted from private
housing providers without improvements to procurement, inspection
and enforcement practices, the training of staff and its liaison
with local government and agencies.
3.2.2 Shelter therefore welcomed the recommendations
of NASS's operational review of its accommodation provision, published
in October 2001. However, we are concerned that, although welcome
progress has been made in some areas, many of the review's recommendations
are yet to be fully implemented. We are particularly concerned
about the inspection and enforcement of the standards of accommodation
provided by NASS. We understand that NASS has just 14 inspectors
to monitor over 35,000 contracted properties nationwide.
3.2.3 We also remain concerned about NASS's
procedures relating to the allocation and management of accommodation.
We continue to receive reports from local authorities and voluntary
advice agencies of people being expected to share small units
of self-contained accommodation, as well as bedrooms, with strangers
who do not share the same language or culture. We also continue
to receive reports from local agencies, and our own housing advisers,
that the management of NASS-contracted accommodation is often
of a very poor standard, particularly in relation to the remedying
of repairs to essential aspects of the accommodation, such as
heating appliances.
3.2.4 In 2002, the National Association
of Citizens' Advice Bureaux published two reports[107]
illustrating how NASS was falling well below acceptable standards
of service delivery and, in particular, the exceptional difficulties
in contacting its staff to rectify problems or errors. The reports
made a number of recommendations, including the establishment
of NASS counter services in the dispersal areas, and in other
areas with significant numbers of supported asylum seekers. Shelter
fully supports these recommendations.
3.2.5 One of the Far from home report's
main recommendations was that the government should appoint a
National Asylum Seeker Support Forum to undertake a review of
the current arrangements and make recommendations. We therefore
strongly welcomed the statement made by Angela Eagle MP, Parliamentary
Under Secretary of State, to the House of Commons on 2 July 2001
that plans were being made to establish a new national forum on
asylum support for consultation with interested parties. In March
2002, NASS consulted Shelter and other agencies on the structure,
membership and remit of this forum. However, nearly two years
after the Minister's original statement, such a forum is yet to
be established and NASS is still failing to consult with agencies
working in the field of asylum support.
3.2.6 Another major area of concern is NASS's
slow and poor decision-making. We have received reports from immigration
lawyers and voluntary organisations that NASS rarely meets its
own targets for making a decision on a claim for support. Citizens
Advice reports[108]
that this can leave people without financial support for weeks
and even months. Recent statistics published by the Asylum Support
Adjudicator show that of 2,799 valid appeals determined during
2002, 2,294 (82%) resulted in the appellant's case being allowed
or sent back to NASS to be looked at again. The figure of 82%
includes an astonishing 51% of such appeals where NASS withdrew
the decision challenged.
3.3 The impact of the termination of
NASS support on people who are recognised as refugees or are granted
leave to remain in the UK
3.3.1 Shelter is becoming increasingly concerned
about the homelessness and hardship caused to people who lose
entitlement to NASS support following a determination of their
asylum claim. People granted refugee status or leave to remain
in the UK are entitled to NASS support for 28 days following the
determination of their claim. People in this position have no
statutory protection from eviction, as they are specifically excluded
from the provisions of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977.
However, the Asylum Support Regulations require NASS accommodation
providers to provide people with seven days' written notice of
eviction. We have encountered cases where people discover they
have been granted refugee status, after months of uncertainty,
only because they are served with a notice of eviction from their
landlord.
3.3.2 We are aware that the termination
of NASS support is becoming a major cause of homelessness in many
dispersal areas. In some areas, services are unable to keep pace
with the sharp increase in the number of homeless applications
caused by a termination of NASS support and this is resulting
in increases in street homelessness. Our housing services are
seeing an increasing number of clients who are homeless having
been evicted by a NASS accommodation provider.
3.3.3 We are currently collating evidence
of this issue. In August 2002, we highlighted the problem at a
meeting with NASS officials. We have also recently raised this
matter with officials at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's
(ODPM) Homelessness Directorate. We understand that the ODPM is
also currently in the process of collating evidence of the termination
of NASS support as a cause of homelessness.
3.3.4 We understand that the Home Office
is currently consulting on the difficulties experienced by people
who lose entitlement to NASS support, and how the NASS system
might be improved to avoid causing unnecessary hardship to people
in this position. We strongly recommend that, in order to prevent
unnecessary homelessness and to assist in the resettlement of
recognised refugees, NASS should take action to prevent people
facing homelessness and hardship when their NASS support is terminated.
25 March 2003
107 Process error: CAB clients' experience of the
National Asylum Support Service (February 2002) and Distant voices:
CAB clients' experience of continuing problems with the National
Asylum Support Service (October 2002). Back
108
As above. Back
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