Home Office must pay Asylum Support to pregnant women/new mothers living in Initial Accommodation

by Catherine Pellegrino, Senior Policy Officer

High Court rules that the Home Office must start paying Asylum Support and extra financial provision to pregnant women and new mothers living in Initial Accommodation.?

On Friday 21 July 2023, the High Court?ruled?that the Home Office’s refusal to provide additional weekly payments to pregnant asylum seeking women and for children under 3 years old in (asylum support) hotels is unlawful. Maternity Action provided important evidence on this case to the legal firm representing the two claimants,?Deighton Pierce Glynn, along with other migrant’s rights’ organisations.?

The two claimants challenged the Home Office’s refusal to make asylum support payments, including the extra payments they are entitled to during pregnancy or with children under three years old, whilst they were living in Home Office hotel accommodation. The Home Office argued that the hotels in question adequately provided for the claimants, including the provision of nutritious food. However evidence presented to the High Court Judge made it clear that there was in fact extremely poor provisions in hotels and wholly inadequate provision of nutritious foods.?

The UK has a statutory obligation to provide destitute asylum seekers with temporary accommodation, transportation, and subsistence support while their application for asylum is being considered. Accommodation provided to asylum seekers before the completion of their asylum claim comes in two forms: ‘Initial Accommodation’ (IA), which usually comes in the form of full-board facilities, and ‘Dispersed Accommodation’ (DA) which tends to be flats and houses. Full board provision is intended to cover the basic needs and those who stay in these types of accommodation do not receive asylum support payments from the Home Office, including the extra payment for pregnant women and for those with children under 3 years of age.?

As a result of a painfully slow and inefficient asylum determination system, the Home Office has resorted to using hotels to keep up with demand. Today, there are tens of thousands of asylum seekers, including pregnant women and children, currently housed in full board accommodation, some for over a year. The reality is that many people are being placed in inadequate and run down environments that do not offer the opportunity of self-sufficiency (such as a cooking facilities) nor the ability to make a home suitable for a baby or young child.?

Research has shown that accommodation offered can be very cramped, unhygienic, and lacking in basic facilities. Nutrition, has been found to be inadequate, something that is especially damaging for pregnant women and growing children. One of the claimants in the court case said that the hotel only offered pasta, rice, plain mash potatoes and sandwiches, and that the portions were very small and fresh fruit and vegetables were rarely ever offered. Midwives were expressing their concerns about pregnant women and their babies losing weight.??

The Court decision offers a modicum of positive news for pregnant women and people with very young children living in Initial Accommodation. The Home Office must now start these payments immediately.?

Despite this welcome news, asylum support rates remain low, with the current weekly rate of ￡47.39 for those in self-catered accommodation and ￡9.58 for those in full board accommodation. The current provision for pregnant mothers is ￡3 per week; ￡5 for a child aged under 1; and ￡3 for children aged between 1 and 3 years old. This rate, introduced by the Asylum Support (Amendment) Regulations 2003 (“the Amendment Regulations”) has not changed since its introduction in 2003, and the asylum support rate has fallen well below mainstream benefits it’s meant to mirror. We call on the Government to increase asylum support payments to at least 70% of Universal Credit, and ensure that payments reflects the current cost of living.

Furthermore, asylum accommodation is provided on a ‘no choice’ basis, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they will live and when they will be moved. This is particularly problematic for pregnant women and new mothers who need consistent, timely access to maternity and postpartum care. To receive appropriate and safe maternity care and to benefit from midwifery continuity of carer, women should be moved no more than once during pregnancy, only in the early stages of pregnancy and to accommodation suitable for a mother and baby.?Midwives and other clinicians should be consulted before a move takes place during pregnancy and any move after the birth should not take place until both mother and baby are deemed fit for relocation by their GP or health visitor.