Nearly one-quarter of asylum seekers living in Scotland is destitute

Asylum hardship: Refugees and campaigners protesting outside Glasgow City Chambers.© STV

Nearly 100 asylum seekers and refugees living in Scotland's biggest city are in a state of destitution, a survey has suggested.

On average, people were destitute for one and a half years, but one survey participant had been destitute for six and a half years.

Researchers at Glasgow Caledonian University counted the number of people who presented as destitute to 13 support agencies and services over a one-week period from March 5 to March 11, 2012.

Almost a quarter - 88 people out 364 - were destitute.

For the purposes of the study, destitution was defined as being without any financial support and unable to work.

The survey included individuals at all stages of the asylum process, from those yet to register their claim to those who have been granted refugee status.

The largest group were those who have been refused asylum, whose appeal rights are exhausted and have no access to public funds.

They accounted for two-thirds of all responses.

People surveyed came from 29 different countries, the most common recorded being from Iran, Iraq, Sudan, and Zimbabwe.

The survey was commissioned by the charities Refugee Survival Trust, the British Red Cross, and Scottish Refugee Council and carried out by lead researcher Morag Gillespie from GCU's Scottish Poverty Information Unit.

She said: "Coping with destitution for any length of time at all is a traumatic experience, but to do so for more than a year and a half - the average time as revealed in this study - is a truly bleak existence. I was both impressed and inspired to learn of some of the strategies which interviewees have adopted to cope with the immense pressures, for example volunteering."

Marie Hayes, Red Cross Operations Director for West Central and South West Scotland, said: "In this day and age, destitution should not be an outcome of the asylum system. There should be a proper asylum support structure - including permission to work - until the applicant is either removed or granted leave to remain. In the meantime, there should be additional support for all destitute asylum seekers with dependent children."

There were 11 agencies or groups who took part in the survey - Scottish Refugee Council, Positive Action in Housing, Govan and Craigton Intervention Network, British Red Cross, 3 health centres, Bridges Programme, Freedom From Torture, Unity, Bridging the Gap, Cranhill Development Trust and Maryhill Citizens Advice Bureau - and two other agencies indicated that they did not see any destitute people during the week of the survey.

In addition to asking destitute clients to complete the survey, services that exist specifically to support asylum seekers and refugees were asked to provide summary statistics of the clients they had over the week and how many of the total number of clients were destitute.

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