Withdrawing the £36 a week from families with children, whose asylum applications have been rejected is a challenge to our humanity

[Figmentofmyimagination]

We should feel ashamed.

I was addressing the OP.

The NHS need not be struggling.
SS need not be struggling etc etc
This government is making them struggle by choice and half of the people on mn voted for them so honestly I hope all the affected start camping in the front gardens of all the naice houses down south that voted this shower of shit in !

yes - because of government austerity measures which are decimating local government ...which fund ss and many other services

these cuts aren't necessary

www.local.gov.uk/documents/10180/5854661/Under+pressure.pdf/0c864f60-8e34-442a-8ed7-9037b9c59b46

What is the solution?

Thanks Giddy, that makes sense. Although it would make more sense to grant someone asylum if they are fleeing from Isis surely.

I think many (not all) of the cuts were and are necessary, but we have done so much interfering in the rest of the world, especially in poorer countires, I think we have a moral responsibility to help the people whose problems we contributed to.

process people in Calais
have a quota system (which means we may have to take our fair share of immigrants)
return people who have no claim for asylum or right to remain
protect people who need it

and let local authorities have enough funding to provide services - maybe let them raise council tax?

I am not surprised. The Tories hate giving benefits to British citizen so they don't stand a chance.

I don't think raising council tax would be fair, it should be paid for out of general taxation. Otherwise you get some areas where there is extra pressure on services just because they're on an entry point or they're a place that immigrants have heard of, and then the residents have to pay more for it. Large numbers of immigrants do put pressure on places and I think we should be mindful of the impact that has on British people's lives, and while we do just have to deal with it, I don't think it would be fair to have to pay more council tax for the privilege of living in an area that attracts immigrants.

I'd disagree with you over cuts as I think they are ideological.
Exceptional Leave to Remain is often used as the method of accepting that you can't send people back into war zones. It has the 'advantage' of not conferring permanent residence on the immigrant and keeping the expectation that they will go home when it is safe. Right or wrong the GC sets a minimum humanitarian standard but it dates from 1948 and the world has changed since then.

why? Council tax funds council services -along with funding from central government

BTW I'm not saying Council Tax should pay to deal with Calais I was addressing the issue of the list of struggling services

the issues there are NOT caused by immigration

One of the cuts we had 2 years ago was the loss of our SS dedicated UASC team - now everyone has a UACS case load - which isn't working so well

and if Immigrants live in your area ...they will be paying council tax!

Because some councils will need to pay a lot more than others to deal with the increased demand for services, and it doesn't seem fair that a family who might face increased competition for doctors appointments and school places should have to pay more in CT while a family who lives in an area that's largely untouched by immigrants gets their council tax bill left alone.

It would be fine if we could consider that the immigrants will be paying council tax as soon as they arrive, but they won't be.

Yabu , we can't have every person living below the poverty line move here.

Wrt processing people in Calais, how would that work? Asylum claims must be considered properly. The High Court ruled on this recently. So person X at Calais turns up at a control and says I'd like to claim asylum. What happens next? Do we admit them to the UK to access legal help? Do we find somewhere in France to detain them? Will the French agree to this? How do we police it? Every claim would technically fail as they should have claimed in France. So the French would resist this.
If they turn up and say they'd like to come in on any other grounds then they'll be refused. And left in France. To try again next week.

So what happens to people whose asylum claims are rejected? Are they given help to go home or are they just left to do what they want?

There are people who live on £10 a week in this country. Well a food voucher for £10.

www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/jun/16/asylum-seekers-survive-on-streets

blogs.redcross.org.uk/uk/2011/06/im-living-on-10-for-refugee-week/

definitions

www.redcross.org.uk/What-we-do/Refugee-support/Refugee-facts-and-figures

The only solution is to improve the quality of life in the countries they are coming from but how to do that I don't know. Plus the UK generally gets slated for going into other countries.

We (the west) could stop the evangelicals who are making some sountries unsafe for some people.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/how-uganda-was-seduced-by-antigay-conservative-evangelicals-9193593.html

this is taken account of in calculating funding from central Gov - it also takes account of areas with high unemployment, high crime, high numbers of pensioners etc .. local authorities don't all get the same amount of money!

but now all the money is being slashed BY this government not immigrants

since it's a EU wide problem then the EU should support the processing of people in Calais - including us

it's perfectly possible - legal advice exists across the EU

nothing stops people trying again - that would apply anyway even if we just put people on a big boat and sent them away!

we can't have every person living below the poverty line move here who is saying they should?

The government are quite happy to refuse support to people whose residency isn't in dispute so they are left destitute and at foodbanks etc so it's hardly suprising they'd treat non nationals the same.

Fair enough Ghosty, you clealry know more about this than I do.

Agree that the EU should be doing more to support the situation.

A hotel local to me is regularly used to house migrants whilst their applications for asylum are being dealt with. Whilst at the hotel they get a room and 3 cooked meals per day plus they get £35 in cash each week to spend. I'm sure that many people on the dole would love to have £35 to spend each week after their rent, bills and food has been taken care of.

The situation of taking money from migrants who have children is a bit more complex because the authority has a responsibility to provide for all people under 18 years of age and I'm not sure how that affects those with failed asylum applications. If they are in a detention centre awaiting deportation does the centre meet all of their basic needs?

R4 talking about this at the mo - sounds like Cameron is going to get a slating. Good.

Not really - I've just worked in local government for 19 years - mainly with vulnerable young people - it's really quiet scary at the moment the scale of the cuts - we aren't just talking fewer bin collections but a really loss of vital services for children, young people, families and older residents

Superexcited that is because people seeking asylum have NO RIGHT to work and no right to public funds (such as benefits) so other than having people beg in the streets what would you suggest?

It is an EU wide problem but we are getting off comparitively lightly. The govt doesn't want a share of Italy and Greece's boatloads. We aren't getting help with our smaller problem. It looks bad for us because it is all happening in one place.
Legal advice in other EU countries is not necessarily applicable in England and Wales.