SUPPORT for asylum seekers and others who have no recourse to public funds (NRPF) has risen “drastically” in the year of Covid-19, yet many have been living for months with no money, MSPs have been told.

Robina Qureshi, director of Positive Action in Housing (PAH), told Holyrood’s Local Government and Communities Committee the charity had supported more people between April and December last year than the whole of the previous year, even though consultations last year were by necessity socially distanced.

Contacts were initiated digitally using Facebook groups or WhatsApp networks, but consultations were frequently conducted outside their offices.

She said PAH’s network of volunteers across Glasgow had been crucial to providing the direct support required when someone was highlighted as being highly vulnerable.

Qureshi said: “For example, somebody who had just had major cancer surgery was moved by [accommodation provider] the Mears Group the day after to Easterhouse and that individual was left with no food, no mobile top-up data, no Wi-Fi, and no money ... People have been given random amounts of money, from maybe £18 to £20.

“There are a lot of people without money at all, and can still be living for months, and in some cases over a year without any money – people who are living in hotels, who are desperate to get out.”

Jen Ang, founding director of legal charity Just Right Scotland, said it had been pointed out that being unable to access public funds did not mean someone was destitute, and added: “Workers who are in jobs, students who are studying, they’re all NRPF, but the difference is this, this hostile environment policy means that if you fall on hard times, and you’re not required to leave, we can’t help you in the same ways that we can help other people.”