But the 28-day move-on period doesn’t give local councils the same amount of time. Under the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, local authorities are given a 56-day period to work with households at risk of homelessness.They are often unaware that they are eligible or cannot receive them because they don’t have a bank account. The safeguards within the Universal Credit system to ensure claimants are not left without support are often not accessed by refugees.An automatic 35-day wait to receive the first Universal Credit payment is completely incompatible with the 28 days afforded to newly recognised refugees to access Universal Credit. Universal Credit has made it almost inevitable that refugees will be left without support.Twenty-eight days is not enough time for newly recognised refugees to move onto mainstream benefits or find somewhere new to live.Most importantly, it would give refugees the support they need as they start to rebuild their lives in the UK. It concludes that giving refugees four additional weeks of support by extending the move-on period to 56 days could result in net annual benefits of between £4 million and £7 million to the UK.Įxtending the move-on period would be of benefit to national, regional and local government, as well as local communities.
Our new report, The costs of destitution, shares the LSE’s analysis. They have now done a cost-benefit analysis of extending the move-on period to 56 days. We then commissioned the Centre for the Analysis of Social Exclusion at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) to build on this research. Through it, we recommended that the move-on period should be extended to at least 56 days. In December 2018, we published a report showing how the 28-day move-on period often leaves people facing extreme poverty and homelessness. Many can’t move from asylum support to mainstream benefits and employment within the 28-day period given to them by the Home Office.Įxtending the move-on period to 56 days could result in annual net benefits of up to £7 million. Evidence from people who use Red Cross services shows that newly recognised refugees are struggling after successfully applying for asylum. The 28-day move-on period in the UK is leaving refugees on the brink of extreme poverty.
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