Home Affairs Committee
1. Executive Summary
1.1. This Memorandum provides an analysis and evaluation of the sufficiency and effectiveness of the current system of Section 4 support for failed asylum seekers and those released on bail from immigration detention.
1.2. We conducted a survey on a representative sample of 25 former immigration detainees who are currently in receipt of Section 4 support under the provisions of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. The data generated provides a snapshot of what life is like for people in receipt of Section 4, through the qualitative evidence of former immigration detainees, as well as quantitative data which highlights issues of concern.
1.3. The Memorandum is limited to the difficulties people currently in receipt of Section 4 face, and does not consider the difficulties that exist for some people in accessing even this level of support, although it is a real concern that people can be released from detention onto the streets on Temporary Admission and not qualify for any kind of government support whatsoever.
1.4. Section 4 runs parallel to Section 95, but is a much tougher regime, in that those in receipt of it have no access to cash, may live in Section 4 indefinitely and do not have any means or opportunity to improve their lots in life. They must merely subsist. We recommend that Section 4 be abolished in favour of the already functioning Section 95 system of support, that permission to work be reinstated and that the level of asylum support reflect the true cost of living.
2. Introduction
2.1. The Dover Detainee Visitor Group (DDVG)
DDVG was created in response to the opening of the Dover Immigration Removal Centre (DIRC) where over 300 men were held with little contact with the outside world. A group of volunteers set up DDVG in 2002, supported by Kent Refugee Action Network (KRAN), the Association of Visitors to Immigration Detainees (AVID), and Refugee Action.
DDVG has been operating as an independent registered charity since November 2004—it is managed by a constitution and complies with all the policies and procedures that a charity must have. DDVG has evolved over time and according to our clients’ needs. We now operate several different projects including an Ex-Detainee Project, Legal and Awareness Raising Projects, as well as the Visiting Project initially envisaged.
2.2. The Ex-Detainee Project
The Ex-Detainee Project operates as a project of the Dover Detainee Visitors Group. It was launched in its current incarnation in 2008 in recognition of a lack of provision for immigration detainees upon their release into communities in the UK. DDVG was increasingly receiving calls for help from ex-detainees released from Dover to all over the country that were homeless, struggling to meet their basic needs and feeling isolated and confused upon their release. The Ex-Detainee Project was set up in response to that need.
The project has evolved over time and gone from helping 80 ex-detainees primarily released from Dover, to having an active client base of over 300 clients released from detention centres throughout England. To date we have helped in excess of 600 ex-detainees. We receive referrals and work in close partnership with local and national organisations across the country.
The Ex-Detainee Project functions primarily by the operation of a freephone telephone helpline for former immigration detainees. Our remit is extremely wide—anyone who has ever been in immigration detention can call us for advice and assistance.
3. Factual Information
3.1. The Section 4 Survey
Our sample group was drawn at random from our client list of 334 active clients and the findings included are from the first 25 clients that we were able to make telephone contact with that were still living on Section 4 support. Clients were interviewed for between 15 and 45 minutes depending on the length of their responses and were asked to provide specific factual information as well as qualitative data, based on their perceptions and experiences. (Survey questions contained in Appendix 1)
3.2. Length of time on Section 4 support
Section 4 support is meant to be a short-term provision. There are real concerns for health and well-being when people are required to live for extended periods of time at such a basic level. In fact, many people live on Section 4 for extended periods of time—often years. In our sample:
|
Longest time on section 4 support: |
5 years |
|
Shortest time on section 4 support: |
3 months |
|
Average time on section 4 support: |
20 months 12 days (mean) |
3.3. Nationality breakdown
Many of the people who are in receipt of Section 4 support have outstanding matters under consideration with UKBA or the courts, while many others’ claims have been finally determined but they cannot be removed to their countries of origin through no fault of their own. Iranian nationals fall into this category—the lack of diplomatic relations between Iran and the UK mean that it is practically impossible for Iranian nationals to be documented and returned to Iran when their asylum applications have failed. However, they are expected to live on Section 4 support indefinitely. Many feel that their lives are wasting away and they are powerless to improve their lives as they are not permitted to work and provide for themselves. Almost a quarter of the clients we surveyed were Iranian nationals, however, nationals of several other countries are also virtually impossible to document or remove to—for example Somalia, China and Palestine.
|
Iran 6 |
-24% |
|
Iraq 3 |
-12% |
|
Algeria 3 |
-12% |
|
Somalia 2 |
-8% |
|
Nigeria 2 |
-8% |
|
Cameroon 2 |
-8% |
|
DRC 2 |
-8% |
|
Jamaica 1 |
-4% |
|
Guinea 1 |
-4% |
|
Ivory Coast 1 |
-4% |
|
Sierra Leone 1 |
-4% |
|
Bangladesh 1 |
-4% |
3.4. Gender breakdown:
We predominantly assist single men that are in receipt of Section 4 support, which is reflected in the gender breakdown of the survey. We also support single women on Section 4 support, though the numbers are much fewer. Families tend to be supported under Section 95 of the 1999 Act, although not exclusively. Section 95 has significant shortcomings which are outside the scope of this Memorandum, however, we would refer the Committee to the Parliamentary Inquiry on Asylum Support for Children and Young People published in January 2013.
|
24 |
males |
|
1 |
female |
3.5. Placement areas
The Ex-Detainee Project has a wide remit and supports former detainees all over the UK. The breakdown of placement areas from the Section 4 Survey accurately reflects the geographic spread of our active client-group throughout England and Wales. Although the government’s dispersal policy is supposed to mean that people on Section 4 are moved out of London and the Southeast, this is not reflected in our experience, or in the survey findings.
|
Outer London 14 |
-56% |
|
Essex 6 |
-24% |
|
Liverpool 3 |
-12% |
|
Ipswich 1 |
-4% |
|
Leeds 1 |
-4% |
What has happened however, is that people on Section 4 are moved to urban sprawl areas on the outskirts of London and other cities, where there is extremely limited provision in terms of support organisations, compounding. The fact that when accommodation providers change under UKBA/Home Office contracts, people are moved wholesale to areas where no provision exists.
All 25 of the ex-detainees interviewed advised that there are no services near to them specifically for refugees/migrants.
3 people interviewed attend weekly support groups/charities and are provided with a travel ticket by that charity as they are over an hour’s travel away by bus.
3.6. Section 4 Accommodation
The quality of the accommodation provided under Section 4 appears to be almost universally poor. Single people lived in shared accommodation with strangers who often share different cultural beliefs and practices. There is no incentive to maintain the spaces and people living in Section 4 have no surplus funds to purchase items that might serve to make their accommodations more livable, as their weekly provision is sufficient only for food and essential toiletries. Not one of the 25 clients that we surveyed was satisfied with the accommodation.
Most common problems with Section 4 accommodation:
- — Sharing with others-
People using drugs; people not cleaning up after themselves; noise late into the night; cultural differences.
- — Sub standard housing-
Grimy; broken doors; filthy toilets; broken showers; broken washing machine; rundown property.
- — Lack of facilities-
Not enough cooking equipment, ie one saucepan for seven men sharing accommodation; no kettle; small fridge with two shelves for up to 7 people; lack of cleaning provisions; no vacuum or mop provided.
- — Accommodation providers-
Difficult to contact; do not answer phone calls; state they will sort out problems, but either not done or can take a number of weeks until action is taken.
Specific qualitative examples of problems with accommodation:
“It took two months for somebody from Clearsprings to look at the broken shower, I was told it had been fixed, but it is still not working properly. I have told my manager this and he said he will sort it out, this was over a month ago.”
“My son’s bed was old and broken, it has been 7 months since I reported this to Clearsprings and nothing has been done. My son has been sleeping on the floor all this time.”
“The cooker wasn’t working, it took 6 weeks for Clearsprings to replace the cooker.”
“I called my manager to let him know the boiler wasn’t working. It was snowing and cold and we didn’t have any heating. It was 2 weeks before they fixed the boiler.”
“I have complained to my manager at SERCO many times about sharing with people who are on drugs, smoking cannabis in the kitchen which we all use, and who urinate in the communal stairwells, they have never spoke to the people who I have to share with.”
3.7. Being moved
Section 4 accommodation is provided on a ‘no-choice’ basis and subsistence is not provided separate from accommodation. Therefore, individuals with family or friends and support networks cannot live with those contacts and receive subsistence support for their own food and toiletries, unlike Section 95 support. Essentially, those living in Section 4 do so at the whim of UKBA—they can be moved at any time and cannot refuse. Any support networks and efforts at integration into their local communities that they have made may be rendered ineffective if they are told they will be moved and they cannot refuse, as Section 4 in ‘no-choice’.
Total number of section 4 accommodations lived in by all interviewees: 54
Average number of accommodations lived in: 2 (2.16)
3.8. Azure card
The Azure card is a payment card that can only be used in certain supermarkets and provides the subsistence element of Section 4 support.
Average time taken to walk to the closest shop where the card is accepted:
35 minutes.
Furthest a person must walk to use his/her Azure card: 1 hour 30 minutes
3.8.1. Specific qualitative examples of difficulties with Azure card:
“Each time I go to the supermarket I am stopped by the cashier who doesn’t know what an Azure card is, the manager is nearly always called and I have to explain, in front of a queue of people, that I have no money and the card is given to me. It’s embarrassing and I feel like a second class citizen. I know everyone in that queue is looking down on me.”
“I am African and I wish I could buy some traditional African food to eat, like the produce available in nearby outside markets. In the supermarket there is hardly any choice and it is so expensive.”
“I have my child to visit every week, it is horrible for her as I share with lots of men. I can’t even take her to the local shop to buy a chocolate bar as they do not accept the Azure card.”
3.9. No Cash
There are highly significant difficulties inherent in living without access to the currency of the land, aside from the stigma and issues related to the Azure card itself. How can a person travel on public transport? How can a person get a haircut?
3.9.1. Our clients told us in the Survey that:
- — Having to buy food at designated supermarkets is expensive.
- — Not being able to travel out of the areas they live in makes them feel isolated, as does not being able to top up a telephone to call solicitor/family/friends.
- — They suffer from boredom and loneliness—they cannot access support groups as most dispersal areas out of main cities and cannot travel due to not having any cash. Due to no choice in the dispersal area s they are sent to, they have no friends, and are lonely.
- — If they had the right to work—along with a sense of responsibility every day, they would have cash, would feel part of society, would feel part of the community.
In answer to the question ‘What is the most difficult thing about living on section 4 support?’ every single individual surveyed mentioned having no cash.
3.9.2. Specific qualitative examples of difficulties inherent in having no access to cash:
“I am diabetic and have been told to attend the advice clinic regularly. I don’t have any money for travel and it is over an hour’s walk away. It is embarrassing to have to keep asking charities to pay my travel to all the medical appointments I have, but I don’t have any choice.”
“I have been on section 4 support for over two years, I would have liked to have been able to buy some shoes and clothes for myself , just from a charity shop, but because I don’t have any cash I can’t.”
“For three years I have lived in four different section 4 accommodations, all in different areas of the country, meaning I have been unable to make good friends or feel part of a community. All the places have been the same, filthy, unkempt, crowded houses in rundown areas of large towns/cities. I would love to be able to travel to see the countryside, but I don’t have any cash or anyone to take me. I am Iranian and the Home Office won’t let me stay but they also won’t send me back. This isn’t living, it is just surviving. I cannot see an end to this. “
4. Recommendations for Action
In light of the findings of the Survey, and in line with our experience we recommend the following:
- — Abolition of Section 4 in favour of Section 95-type cash support, including the separation of subsistence and accommodation elements;
- — Raising the level of support provided to at least 70% of income support level;
- — Permission to work for those who are awaiting a decision for longer than 6 months, or who cannot be removed to their country of origin through no fault of their own.
APPENDIX 1
Survey of living on section 4 support
Initially establish if client still living in Section 4 accommodation—if new address, please make a note of this and if it is a Section 4 address. Advise we are collecting this information in order to provide evidence on the difficulties ex-detainees face living with on Section 4 support in the UK.
Survey Questions
Q1. How long have you lived in Section 4 accommodation?
Q2. How many Section 4 accommodations have you lived in?
Q3. Have all of the accommodations been of the same standard?
Q4. What are the main problems (if any) with the accommodation?
Q5. Have you approached your accommodation provider about the problems?
Q6. If yes, what was the outcome?
Q7. How close is the nearest shop in which you can use your Azure card?
Q8. How often do you have to report with the UKBA?
Q9. How do you travel to your reporting centre, and how often are you required to report?
Q10. What is the most difficult thing about living on Section 4 support?
Q11. Are there any services for refugees/migrants that you know of near to you?
Q12. If yes, please identify
Dover Detainee Visitors Group’s Ex-Detainee Project
April 2013