Worrying situation

A wristband seems fine to me; lots of people wear them, I was wearing one not long ago which probably looked red. It had red poppies on it.

Yes, we are absolutely horrible Stansgran, and should be ashamed of ourselves for giving people refuge, a roof over their heads and food while they wait to see if their claim is genuine or not.

I'm sure there are some who wish that the media hadn't got hold of this story. Because now, the Border agency are looking al some of these asylum seekers.

I'd to just clarify that if asylum seekers are getting their meals provided, they don't get the £36.95 too.

£36.95 is the amount a single person gets for food, clothing and toiletries and it's given as vouchers, not cash. Asylum seekers get a maximum of 70% of what someone on Income Support would receive.

If someone could give more information I think it would take some of the heat out of the discussion.

So if they have meals provided, what do they do about clothing and toiletries?

Ana. I would imagine there are charities providing these.

Wouldn't those same charities provide them for all refugees?

No, I think they get a small allowance, but I'm not sure how much.

I think the full board thing is partly because of the shortage of suitable properties. Asylum seekers don't get housed in council housing, unless it's a hard to let property nobody else wants.

My knowledge isn't up to date, so I can't remember all the details.

I wish there was someone on here who knows the current entitlements.

www.gov.uk/asylum-support/what-youll-get

Also - www.rightsnet.org.uk/pdfs/roap-benefits.pdf

and - researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN01909/SN01909.pdf

That should be researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN01909/SN01909.pdf

All this information is online, you just need to search for it. I put in Asylum seekers current entitlements.

I did google Asylum seekers benefits UK originally, but couldn't make out whether those who receive housing and food get any money or not. Still can't!

Elegran the links confirm the £36.95, but I don't know how it works when meals are provided and whether vouchers are still in use, or if the payment card replaced them.

Exactly.

I did search extensively before posting. I'm pretty sure the cuts have not been implemented, but that doesn't help us understand how it works when some or all meals are provided.

blogs.redcross.org.uk/refugeesservices/2015/04/asylum-in-the-uk-adding-up-the-true-costs/

This was last April.
I was staggered to find that asylum costs the British person less than £5 a year. That's less than twopence a day.
Think about it.

What do the costs of £5 cover? Is that just food and shelter or does that include any healthcare, any schooling or other outlay such as their claim for asylum?
Is that per taxpayer presumably?

You could read the Red Cross article, Jalima. It's not very long. Just in case you want to find out more.

"These ‘costs’ are often mentioned in the same breath as immigration policy or net migration. This confuses the issue, as asylum seekers are here for different reasons.

Some papers do cite big, scary numbers about asylum support – but when you break down the figures, the amount actually becomes very small. A budget of £155 million is around £5 a year for each taxpayer.

That means a small amount of money – just over 1p a day – will help people who have fled traumatic and terrifying experiences, such as rape, torture and murder. It’s the sort of loose change that rattles at the bottom of your rucksack."

Per member of population, not per tax payer. Not forgetting, of course, that the population includes many asylum seekers. If you want to know how many, it's on the Red Cross website, but it's not as many as most people think.

As far as I can see, they either get money to feed themselves or they get "full-board" with their food provided, as there was not enough accommodation for everyone to have cooking facilities.

It could be that single men are getting "full board" in hostels and families get somewhere they can cook but I am not sure of that.

It is probably groups of single men who are walking along the street to get their meals.

The owner of the company that painted the red doors was questioned by a commons committee today. He was accused of acting like Pontius Pilate.

It can be seen on politics live on the Guardian website.

Just been reading about it on the Guardian website. It sounds more like a case of the three wise monkeys.

Nobody told us there was a problem with the red doors.
I never noticed that they were painted red. In fact it was only 59% of them.
I never asked the painters how many doors they had painted red.
They were red when we bought them twenty years ago.
Someone painted his door white, and the painters painted it red again? I do not know anything about that.

So, once again, how would you suggest the authorities handle the problem of housing and feeding these people?

The authorities can never provide these houses for our own homeless people, can they. I'm sure that there are many who would jump at having one, red door or not.

So 59% of doors were painted red with what was probably a job lot of paint which may not be fasionable at the moment, hence it was cheaper.
A lot of front doors are painted red on many houses.
Many houses in Syria don't have any walls any more, let alone front doors.
Some other European countries are providing tents.

Members of my family would have welcomed the offer of a house with any colour front door but they got pushed further and further down the waiting list.