Asylum Seekers

 

Dudley has a relatively small number of Asylum Seekers housed in the borough. The Council takes direction on this issue from NASS – the National Asylum Seekers Service, part of the Home Office. Central government has a policy of dispersing Asylum Seekers away from London and the South-East and Dudley plays its part in this.

 

The Asylum Seekers and Refugee Team are based at 17 St.James Road in Dudley and can be contacted on 01384 815118. For further information you may wish to read the Key Facts below.

 

Asylum Seekers Key Facts

 

This guide aims to provide you with some facts and figures about asylum seekers and refugees and the way they are dealt with in Dudley and the United Kingdom.

 

 

Anyone at all is allowed to ask for sanctuary in another country if they are suffering persecution in their own.  An asylum seeker is someone who has submitted an application for asylum to the UK authorities and is still waiting for a decision on whether this will be granted.

 

 

A refugee is someone who has had their asylum application thoroughly investigated, and who has proven that they have ‘a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion’ in their homeland and are afraid to return to that country.  Under international law and conventions they are entitled to protection in another country.

 

 

Asylum seekers tend to come from countries with either very oppressive governments or very little social order where people feel their lives and safety, or those of their families, are at risk.

 

 

Most asylum seekers in Dudley come from a variety of countries around the world. 

 

 

Most asylum seekers do not come here – they stay in the first safe country they reach. The vast majority of refugees can be found in the developing world, accounting for 72% of the world’s estimated 12 million asylum seekers and refugees. Across the European Union, Germany takes more asylum seekers than the UK, while there are even more asylum seekers in less developed neighbouring countries like Turkey than in western Europe.

 

Research shows that most asylum seekers who do come to the UK have little choice in the matter – they are dependent on whoever arranges their escape for them. For those who do have a choice, the main reasons for coming to the UK are usually: some knowledge of English, having relatives or friends living in the country, and a belief that the UK is a safe, tolerant and democratic society.

 

 

No. And asylum seekers are not allowed to work either while their cases are being assessed. They only receive 70% of Income Support to live on – about £40 a week.

 

 

No, this is a myth and completely untrue. Asylum seekers only receive basic living necessities from the state. If asylum seekers do have mobile phones, it will because they have saved up to pay for them and because it may be difficult for a landline to be allocated to their property. Mobile phones are often the only means of communication asylum seekers have with their homeland, their solicitors, or the immigration authorities. Sometimes charities or local churches, for example, may allocate second hand goods, clothes, and food parcels to asylum seekers, many of whom arrive in this country with little or no belongings.

 

 

No, less than 40% of asylum seekers are single, and this percentage includes single women as well as single men. Most people claiming asylum are a family unit.

 

 

No. The Council receives extra funding from the government to make housing available for asylum seekers, and this is usually spent to bring ‘void’ properties (low demand units or property in very poor condition that is not being let) back into use. Many asylum seekers are housed in private accommodation. None of this is paid for out of council tax.

 

If an asylum seeker proves their case and is accepted as a refugee, they have to find their own housing or wait on the council waiting list just like anyone else. They do not receive any extra points or preferential treatment. Housing in Dudley is always allocated on need.

 

 

The number of asylum seekers being supported in Dudley is very small.  All the local authorities in the region have an agreement with the government that numbers will not ever be greater than half of one percent of the population.  Birmingham takes the majority of asylum seekers who come to the West Midlands and the actual numbers are currently getting smaller. In Dudley asylum seekers make up approximately 0.2% of the total population, or around 700 individuals, out of a population of 310,000.

 

 

Individual asylum seekers will be living here while the Home Office looks at their asylum case. The Home Office has a target of 6 months to make decisions. Some, who are accepted as refugees, may choose to build their new lives here.

 

 

No. Central government meets all the costs of looking after asylum seekers.  Children in Dudley schools are educated like everyone else, and the costs of this are funded through specific grants, again direct from central government.

 

 

There is no evidence to suggest that local services suffer as a result of the presence of asylum seekers or refugees.  The arrival of new families has even helped revitalise some neighbourhoods, and brought many void properties the Council could not previously afford to renovate back into use for everyone.

 

 

The asylum system is very tough and weeds out people who are genuinely in fear of their safety from those who have other reasons for leaving their home country.  Asylum seekers have to prove their case if they want to stay and the evidence shows that many have their claims are accepted. In the meantime, all asylum seekers are entitled to be treated with respect and dignity whilst they are living in our communities.