Benefits plan may breach convention

T
he Child Poverty Action Group says a plan to replace backdated
income support for refugees with a system of loans may breach the
Geneva Convention on Refugees.

The charity says the convention stipulates that a country must
treat refugees in the same way it does its own nationals in
relation to social security benefits. Under the present system
asylum seekers are not entitled to income support but, if they are
granted refugee status, it is backdated to when they
arrived.

Kate Green, the charity’s chief executive, said the
government’s plan, which will be piloted in one area, was
“grossly unfair” and would increase debt and
poverty.

A Home Office spokesperson said the government was confident it was
not breaching the convention.