Scottish government provides asylum seeker charities with emergency funding

Aileen Campbell

The Destitute Asylum Seeker Service (DASS) is being given £110,000 for the next six months, allowing the Scottish Refugee Council; the Refugee Survival Trust and the British Red Cross to double their capacity to help people back into asylum support and provide them with accommodation.

Communities Secretary Aileen Campbell said: “While we welcome the pause in the issue of lock change notices, this is only a temporary measure, and the fact remains that destitution and homelessness are built into the current asylum system – placing hundreds of people at risk.  

“The plight of people threatened with eviction demands a resolute and humanitarian approach and we cannot see people turned on to the streets because of the failure of the Home Office’s asylum policy. We all have a moral duty to do what we can to help those most in need and this additional funding, while a short-term solution, will provide urgent assistance needed.

“The Scottish government wants to work with the Home Office to improve support for asylum seekers at all stages of the process, and find a sustainable, long term solution to ensure that the current situation, caused by the Home Office’s failed processes, can never happen again in Scotland. This needs to include equity of funding for Glasgow City Council which is a Home Office dispersal area and has welcomed asylum seekers. It is unacceptable to deny funding to Glasgow when it is available to English councils.”