Living next to asylum seeker HMO, ask me anything

I do actually. I don't believe half the threads on here are genuine these days, but I do believe this one. Most engagement farmers don't stick around and engage as much as the OP and their replies tend to be a bit vague and non-specific. She is very detailed in answer to questions and it does seem to add up.

I'm sure there is someone on MN who works for the home office who is able to verify whether this sort of letter is very likely or not?

Many MumsNetters as well as press and Members of Parliament would like to know where in the UK staff in your office are approving Universal Credit for both asylum seekers - you seem insistent that these are people with claims in process, not refugees - and people on visas with No Recourse to Public Funds.

I think the law is too harsh, but it is the law. If you are sure of your facts why not provide some evidence? Otherwise the claim does not sound credible, as the people doing this are risking prison.

I've just asked Chat GPT if they think the OP's anecdotal account of the letter she says she found is plausible and likely to be genuine based on her (non-verbatim) recollection of what the letter said. It has responded with a strong yes, very likely to be genuine and plausible. Anyone is free to do the same thing if they don't believe me. Apparently the Home Office do send letters like this in advance of potential deportation orders.

But so much information from the asylum seekers themselves…the same men that she is scared of, that are causing issues …and not all of the information true or accurate. ….

She hasn’t returned today.

So ask Chat GPT to give an example letter…and BINGO…

I believe they acknowledged it was an issue and were working to eliminate it. The Deliveroo licence holder will be legitimate; someone with the right to work and ID. They then sublet the equipment, etc to the people who do the work and take a proportion of what they make from them (they control the finances). It's a form of modern slavery and the people who do the work may be getting some money from it, but it's not actually helping them establish themselves here and it feeds into the black economy.

These are the facts about what asylum seekers can get, until they have been given right to remain (if they have).

https://www.gov.uk/asylum-support/what-youll-get

What is your policy on reporting fraudulent claims?

Do you use it?

You seem to have so much great evidence of the legal system being applied incorrectly …

ONE?

The word FAMILIES (which I used) is plural and means multiple or more than one.

I am not naive enough to think it's that simple. Chat GPT almost never gives a definitive answer to anything. It tells you on the balance of probability, based on what it DOES know, whether something is likely or plausible, that's all.

You seem determined to prove that this letter is not likely or plausible though. What makes you better qualified than Chat GPT on this matter? Do you work for the Home Office in the specific areas of either asylum or illegal immigration?

If so then I'm sure we are all happy to defer to your in-depth knowledge of the system.

So if a family is here with children and are in limbo waiting for an asylum case to be heard and processed, or waiting for an appeal or whatever, what do they live on and where do they live?

But she started the thread last night and responded over 30 times with in depth answers. That's not the typical behaviour of an engagement farming poster. Perhaps she hasn't been back today because she works for a living? In a job where she can't sit at home spending all day refreshing her Mumsnet feed? I know that's a strange and outdated concept for some, but it's quite likely to be the case, even in 2026.

@DownToTheGround @Jonesmaximus @nomas
Just to answer everyone I work in adult education so it's part of the enrolments that we take this information for e.g. an English class. I see these people daily. I am also aware that as per the policy it shouldn't happen but it does. I suppose it's either fraudulent claiming or maybe something like they think what they receive is UC when it's not? We all know that JobCentres can also be badly run and not always follow policies or perhaps claimants get away with more esp if most of their accounts are offshore. This is all checked when they first enrol though. As I've said we don't actually distribute the benefits we just take information including information about benefits received.

The simplest way to avoid all of this suspicion is for the government to provide a breakdown of the data on how funds are allocated. Complete transparency would alleviate the endless speculation and arguing. I will start lobbying my MP on this and would encourage others to do the same.

I don't really get why the suspicion is so rampant when whether asylum seekers initially receive UC or not they almost always go on to receive it anyway, when their claims are granted or they become a long term resident one way or another. Virtually none of them are ever removed so most eventually claim UC, whether or not they manage to do it initially is kind of neither here nor there frankly.

None of these things work the way you describe. Your evidence is 'because I say so'.

It feels you are deliberately conflating 'asylum seekers' with refugees whose claim has been accepted, allowing them access to UC.

Or it's straight up misinformation, hoping your posts get screenshot and posted on X to back up the bullshit from others.

Well quite. People love to tangle others up in semantics and procedural timelines as a way of obfuscating and distracting from the argument, when they understand very well what overall point it is that those other people are making.

Something of a disingenous response. You wouldn't have liked her peering through the loft hatch into your bedroom or bathroom! The reason it's an issue is because anyone who gets into one house can access all those where the loft space isn't adequately separated. And they cannot be seen from outside. It doesn't matter how harmless you perceive the neighbours to be. Plus a fire could rip through the whole terrace roof space much more easily if it's all open.

When I bought my first house nearly thirty years ago the wall in the loft between the house I buying and next door on one side had to built up before the mortgage company would lend me the money to buy it.

If their claim is not granted they exist in a kind of half acknowledged existence. They rely on the kindness of charities, except when they have an active appeal ( and are classified as asylum seekers)

Refused asylum seekers have No Recourse to Public Funds, no right to employment, no access to housing ( except through the kindness of others) no access to the banking system, etc. They can access only primary NHS care (ie register with a GP, receive vaccinations, etc).

There is some access to education, which is a human right. Families with young children may receive further assistance.

Where on earth did you get the idea that ‘most’ refused asylum seekers are eligible for UC?

I didn't say that type of letter wouldn't exist, I said it seemed rather unlikely that the OP would conveniently find such a letter in her garden, to add to the significant amount of information that she has also been privy to in relation to her neighbours current and historic personal circumstances.

Not at all. If a houseful of single men had moved in, you can be sure I'd be up there checking.

The point is there's a difference - none of my current and past neighbours were going to be pottering in my attic or wandering down the stairs (there isn't a hatch).

They will get their asylum seeker support allowance (approx £50 per week per adult if not in a hotel, in which case it's under £10 per week) until they are refused. Then they will get nothing. About 30 years ago there was a school mum in this situation, her husband worked about 80 hours a week cash in hand as a glass washer in a restaurant, paid cash to a landlord and lived extremely frugally. The dc were born here so there was some sort of rule that they couldn't kick the dc out and by default the parents either. I think after 6 years they got ILTR on that merit. It was a very difficult period of time, they were a lovely family too.
ETA: if you have been refused and stay on then you don't have a status so in theory no recourse to NHS or schools for children. They will treat you in an emergency situation but you will be billed for it. I don't think you can even register with a GP in this situation either.

Yes same here, most classes for asylum seekers are run by churches, community groups and other orgs such as U3A. There is actually very little provision for ASs now, contrary to what the Daily Mail says.