A diet of potatoes: the harsh realities of life on £1.40 a day
![potato peeling](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_s/public/2023-12/diliara-garifullina-_KpeUltr9Is-unsplash.jpg?h=cdab503e&itok=Lu5Rl_Ur)
Asylum seekers on minimal support payments are being crushed by the cost of living crisis, a new report has revealed.
More than nine out of ten of respondents to an Asylum Matters survey revealed they can’t always afford to eat, and three quarters are unable to pay for prescriptions.
One revealed they were just surviving on a diet of potatoes, while asylum seekers living in hotels are forced to live on just £1.40 a day.
More than 300 asylum seekers were interviewed for Surviving in Poverty: a report documenting life on asylum support which found respondents are commonly unable to afford food, clothes, toiletries and public transport.
It found:
- 91 per cent don’t always have enough money to buy food
- 95 per cent can’t always afford to travel by public transport
- 97 per cent experience difficulties affording the clothes
- 83 per cent say asylum support payments aren’t enough to cover the rise in the cost of living
- 75 per cent can’t always afford the medicines they need
- 85 per cent struggle to afford the cleaning products
- 65 per cent face challenges affording the toiletries
- 88 per cent don’t always have the data and phone credit
Asylum support is £47.39 per week or £9.58 a week for people living in a hotel, equal to £1.36 a day. There is an extra payment of £3 a week for pregnant women, and £5 a week for a baby under one year old.
A report by the Red Cross in October 2023 showed asylum support payments in the UK have declined in real terms by 28 per cent, pushing thousands into deep poverty.
At the end of September 2023, there were more than 90,000 people waiting more than six months for an initial asylum decision. More than 123,500 people currently receive asylum support, with 45 per cent living in hotels.
One respondent to the survey has waited more than five years for a decision on their status from the Home Office.
More than 80 per cent said they were worried about the rising cost of living - 90 per cent for those with children.
One told of having to choose between food and basic essentials and said: “My weekly allowance is barely enough to get me food for the week, so when it is time to buy toiletries, my food reduces.”
Another asylum seeker said: “I just buy potatoes and almost eat the same for long periods of time.”
Paul Hook, director of Asylum Matters, said: “The harsh reality of trying to live on asylum support underscores an urgent need to reform asylum support and the asylum system, including the right to work.”
The report recommends:
- Increasing rates of asylum support and ensuring the methodology for setting rates is fit for purpose
- Giving people seeking asylum the right to work after six months of waiting for a decision on their asylum claim
- Providing free bus travel for people seeking asylum, as is currently the case in Scotland
A BASW spokesperson said: “BASW will keep campaigning in favour of supporting asylum seekers, not scapegoating them. We will also work tirelessly with allies to protect and promote our adherence to the European Convention of Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights.”