A leading human rights charity and the Home Office are at odds over the impact of asylum law on social housing providers now that the Court of Appeal has ruled against the government and said late asylum seekers should still be entitled to benefits.
The government had denied benefits to people who did not apply for asylum as soon as possible, but on Tuesday the court concluded that the new rules did not breach human rights in the way they were written but did do so in the way they were operated.

Human rights charity Liberty said that the changes meant councils would have to house and pay benefits to a rush of asylum seekers previously denied these things.

A spokesman said: 鈥淪ince 8 January, when the new rules were brought in, and 19 February, when the appeal case was brought, there were 300 people who were denied benefits.

鈥淭hose people will now have to be housed and given the same benefits as people who were deemed to have claimed asylum in time.鈥�

The Home Office, though, denied that the ruling would affect the way councils worked and said the changes would only affect the way in which the government operated its policy.

The Home Office will now have to ensure asylum seekers are clearly told about why they are being interviewed by immigration officers.

It will give them the right of appeal and allow the person who interviews them to decide whether they can receive benefits or not.

Home secretary David Blunkett said: 鈥淲e have already made changes to our procedures to ensure that individual cases get full and fair consideration.

鈥淏ut it was the key principles that were at stake here, and on those we have won.鈥�

Source

Housing Today