IT has been claimed the Home Office has admitted privately that thousands of asylum seekers are still left without functioning debit cards more than 10 days after they changed the support system.
The Aspen cards, which allow asylum seekers and refugees to spend their meagre daily allowance on necessities, were switched off on May 21, when the department switched from facilities management company Sodexo and entered a new contract with financial technology firm Prepaid Financial Services (PFS).
Those using the card system were told they should have their new cards from May 24, but Positive Action in Housing (PAIH), which helps asylum seekers in Scotland, said thousands are still destitute – many hundreds of them in Scotland.
The charity said some of the Home Office statements appeared to suggest the users were to blame for the problems, rather than the system itself.
Its director, Robina Qureshi, said: “It remains to be seen whether the new cards work properly.
“We have had multiple reports that cards either have no money on them, or they work once and then stop working a few days later … Instead of paying contractors to accommodate asylum seekers, should we not harness the immense skills and qualifications and allow people to do paid work and save money and build up resilience?
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“Not only would this reduce the burden on the taxpayer it would allow people to contribute to their community while spending years waiting for the Home Office to make robust decisions on asylum cases.”
She added: “Home Office officials have estimated that around two thirds of people on asylum support have the new card and have activated it. However they have not taken into account those whose cards have activated and then failed.
“The agency says it is trying to identify the ‘missing third’ who either don’t have a card due to change of address or who haven’t activated it, possibly because there is a problem with the cards themselves, not the people trying to activate them. The situation is acute because asylum seekers are not allowed to work or hold bank accounts, and therefore have little food stocked up or family to turn to.”
The Home Office said PFS were awarded a contract after a competitive tendering process, which included “due diligence” checks on the company.
They said they took any allegations of wrongdoing “very seriously” and as a matter of procedure will “investigate alongside standard contract management activities”.
A spokesperson said: “A new service to provide asylum seekers with financial support went live last Monday and we have worked closely to develop customer services processes and plan for a number of eventualities.
“We provided clear advice to asylum seekers that they must activate their new cards prior to the service going live and the vast majority of individuals did so in advance, or have done so since.
“Migrant Help remain available to respond to queries from asylum seekers and anyone experiencing issues can contact the 24/7 hotline.”
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