Funding will go towards emergency costs and wellbeing activities to asylum seekers with little or no social and financial support
Project by Wycombe Refugee Partnership
Donations to our project will be matched by the Cost of Living Boost up to the value of £250 to help us tackle the cost of living crisis.
Please note only one donation per supporter will be matched by the Cost of Living Boost. View the Terms & Conditions.
Extra funding will mean that more children are able to access local sports clubs and we will be able to support them in buying uniform and grading assessments.
It also means we are able to offer more people flexibility in our Hardship and Access Fund. For example, making sure that more people under our remit are given a bus pass to be able to explore their new community, visit the supermarket or see friends.
Asylum seekers are not allowed to work and have very limited rights. In response to the steep rise in cost of living, the government raised asylum seekers Home Office allowance from £39.63 to £40.85 a week – a difference of just £1.22. This is less than National Universal Credit.
This allowance is expected to cover someones livelihood essentials, from food, toiletries and medicine - to nappies, clothing and data for someones phone.
Some of the asylum seekers under our remit have been stuck in a state of limbo for 7 years. In this time, they are not able to independently support their family, they are stuck on Home Office allowance and living in a state of uncertainty. These people have come from unimaginable beginnings. This is not the way to treat human beings.
A 2022 report by the ONS found that the average cost of living per month for a single person in the UK, with housing and utility costs deducted, is £1,042. Currently, an asylum seeker receives £190.40.
WRP have been helping asylum seekers with £5 food vouchers per week and digital connectivity support - to make peoples lives that little bit easier integrating into a new community.
Our Hardship and Access Fund will support asylum seekers with ad-hoc emergency costs, such as bus passes, a taxi fare to an asylum hearing or help for things like school uniform if we can't source it second hand. It will also have a wellbeing stream where we will offer families a trip out for the day, or asylum seeker mothers a chance to socialise at a coffee morning.
We have also launched an Activities Fund where we have been supporting asylum seeker children to join a local sports club. This gives young people the chance to claim some of their childhood back, one heavily disrupted by seeking asylum and having to immerse themselves in a new community and a schooling system in a second language.
Your cost-of-living support can make a HUGE difference to people that are already challenged by fleeing from dangerous circumstances, navigating a broken asylum system, and living in a constant state of uncertainty. Please, if you can, donate today.