Policy reversal averts support crisis

No asylum seekers from the 10 EU accession countries supported by
the National Asylum Support Service were made homeless over the
weekend after a last minute reprieve.

The government had previously announced that asylum seekers from
the accession nations would be denied asylum support or local
authority support when their countries joined the EU at the
weekend.

Campaigners feared that more than 2,500 asylum seekers and their
families could become homeless overnight.

However, late last week the government announced that Nass and
local authorities would consider applications for continued support
after 1 May from asylum seekers who thought that their human rights
were going to be breached.

An asylum seeker who is arguing that the government’s plans will
breach his human rights was given the right to seek judicial review
of the Home Office policy this week.