To think this Facebook post re: immigrants is nonsense?

[Readytomakechanges]

A relative has shared a post that basically says: immigrants get £26 per day in Tesco vouchers which is more than our hard working British elderly, that have paid into the system all of their lives, are entitled to. Apparently these vouchers are in addition to housing benefit etc. and they have been seen spending said vouchers on booze.
The post seems like nonsense, and I'd like to challenge it, but would like to have some facts to back up my points and am afraid I don't know any figures on what benefits 'immigrants' are entitled to. Does anyone know this data so I can back up my challenge with facts? And AIBU to think it's nonsense?

MrsDeVere

I do that as part of explaining research to 16+ students. We look at the same story in different publications and on the internet and look at who wrote the articles and what their motivation might be.

Which £300 does an OAP couple receive to offset heating costs? We do get £200 Winter Fuel Allowance but I am sure there is nothing else extra to pension.

Investigate 'warm homes discount scheme' - you can get £140 towards electricity bills if you met certain requirements.

PansyGiraffe. I did not say that the tenant paid phone bills. This is a GOVERNMENT agency document, an agreement between Govt and a landlord - NOT the asylum seeker. THIS IS NOT A REGULAR TENANCY AGREEMENT that you may have seen via your local estate agent. As an asylum seeker family with children has no income, and rather than staying in a hostel longer than necessary they are placed in family
accommodation. Therefore all bills are picked up by taxpayer.

The document I am referring to is 27 pages and contains an exhaustive 3-page list of minimal requirements & standards that a landlord has to provide for basic comfort - which does include basic entertainment (i.e. not less than a 20 inch TV) and telephone contact (mobile phone call charges within UK are paid by taxpayer). The family needs to be contactable afterall.

The above is nothing different to living in a hostel, except that the family has privacy and space, but all bills are paid from the public purse. You may find this unpalatable for some reason, but if a family has been granted leave to remain then they need to start their life here. Government believes this is the best way. What on earth do you think happens? The £700 per month support approx that they will eventually receive cannot sustain rent, utilities, council tax, etc.

There are few job vacancies out there which pay enough to support a family of 4, and it may be a long time before the head of the family finds work. So on arrival asylum seekers are put into a hostel (paid for by taxpayer), and then once approved by Home Office are transferred to a flat or house (paid for by taxpayer).

The lack of comprehension and critical thinking I have seen on this site so far is quite shocking.

Toughasoldboots.
Thank you! The latest one has not, and nor have the others. I think there have been 3 people on here who think I am being provocative just for the hell of it. Maybe the reality is unpalatable, but the reality is that charities such as Shelter will continue to exist because government chooses to prioritise accommodation and £ in this way.

Hello everyone! I posted yesterday Sunday. Just to close this thread ..... the tenancy contract between a dept of the Home Office and a landlord existed for many years to house approved asylum seeker couples with children. Battersea53 is correct. It was generous insofar as landlord had to provide property furnished and appointed to a standard laid down by HO. The items provided within the house such as fridge, saucepans, bed, etc remained the property of the landlord.

I am no longer working in that field and think that that contract may have been superceded by another. I know that G4S, Clearel and Serco now have the HO contracts to implement asylum housing, but I have not seen the wording of the new contract.

Battersea, I hope you don't think my "thick as shit" comment was directed at you. It wasn't. What you've posted is basically correct (at least it was 10 years ago when I worked in the field). The landlord did have to supply certain things. In the case of Glasgow City council, asylum seekers were housed in the high-rises that no-one else would live in. They were all furnished identically with a job lot of green settees and cheap crockery and cutlery. The heating was storage heaters, which were useless. Gas elect and council charge were covered. I don't know about phone lines. But with no income, how else would people pay?

AgentProvocateur: No, I didnt think you were referring to me.
I think there were and are vast regional differences in the quality of what is available to provide to asylum seekers.

I suspect the new contract has had to be pared down in terms of what the HO can provide, due to huge numbers of people arriving. Mobile phone charges are now the responsibility of the asylum seeker who has permission to remain and who is in regular receipt of benefits, for example. A couple with 2 children receive £178.44 per week benefit, which is adequate for food, clothing, toys, toiletries - especially as they have no other outgoings.

Battersea

I have worked for the Home Office for over a decade and have expertise in asylum - the decision making process and overall end-to-end (integration when leave is granted and removal when claims fail).

You've posted some pretty provocative stuff but haven't provided links to support key things you've asserted. Can you provide a link to a copy of the tenancy agreement between the Government and landlords that you posted about this morning? Can you provide any evidence of 'secret' contracts 'covered by the OS Act'? I'm pretty sure that would be of interest at Ministerial level.

You are blurring fact with fiction, which only serves to confuse people over things that are really pretty clear and in the public domain. For instance,you are right when you say that families are given a roof over their heads, but you are wrong when you talk about provision of televisions and that phone bills (or 'cellphones') are paid.

You are correct when you mention the amount of financial support families with undecided asylum claims receive:

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/16/asylum-seekers-with-children-to-see-support-payments-cut

However, the restrictions on failed asylum seekers and those awaiting decisions on initial claims are strict and enforced:

www.gov.uk/government/collections/asylum-support-asylum-instructions

The National Audit Office report into the Home Office COMPASS contract (January 2014) sets out asylum support spending and highlights areas in which savings could be made. Those recommendations have acted upon and some have informed the current Immigration Bill, which actually goes further in reducing the overall support costs:

www.nao.org.uk/report/compass-contracts-provision-accommodation-asylum-seekers/

This Parliamentary Briefing Paper (published by the House of Commons) sets out the current situation (as of August 2015):

www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN01909.pdf

The situation and conditions of failed asylum seekers and those awaiting initial decisions is to change. Those changes will be in the new Immigration Act when enacted:

www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-bill-2015-16

The process isn't complete yet though. The link below shows where the Immigration Bill 2015-16 is within the Parliamentary process:

services.parliament.uk/bills/2015-16/immigration.html

You have views and clearly feel strongly about them - please have a look at the links I've posted and see if you feel the same.

Are these boozy immigrants the same as the Muslim immigrants that the Daily Fail likes to bang on about? Cause something is not adding up here. ..

(Oh and ignore and hide the post. ..that's what I tend to do with ridiculous fbook posts)

Battersea are you related to Alfred Garnett by an chance? Or even Walter Mitty???

No its not bloody true. Who spends £120 a week on gas? God people are so credulous.

People who get food vouchers CANNOT spend them on booze. It printed on the damn voucher, just as it used to be for milk vouchers!

This makes me so angry, some people would turn in the Frank family in a fucking heartbeat.

this kind of thing has been going on for years.

I heard of a man who didn't speak English, brought over his wife and 2x mistresses and the government got him a palace and a job the second he arrived (plenty of English people could have done this job!!) he has a large extended family who have not made much of an effort to assimilate into the local community and insist on setting themselves apart. They have also brought in wives and husbands from abroad who have immediately got housing. Some have had 9 children and they all got houses too.

not a word of a lie!!!

Knobbyknee. I have re-read the posts on this topic and cannot see anyone mentioning £120 a week on gas. What are you reading?

Maybe it was this post by Battersea on 2nd January (although it says per month not per week):

In 2011, the amounts given every month to a family were: £120 gas + £90 electricity (£210), but these may have increased by now. There will be minor variations between councils across the UK and every council will deny this arrangement, but it is true.

ghostyslovesheep. I have no idea whether the statements discussed here are true or not, but remarks likes yours - especially between women - are uncalled for. It should be unacceptable to call another poster a liar.

It is also impolite and shortsighted to slam something that you know nothing about simply because it is outside of your range of knowledge or possibility.
For 10 years the sex grooming in Rotherham and other places was denied, but look what's come out now.
I am 64 and my parents were stateless refugees to this country in 1947. Learn to look behind information given on government websites, my dear.

dementedpixie. Knobblyknee clearly has poor reading skills.

There's nothing remarkable about £120 per month for gas, esp. if there are children who need to be bathed.
My gas bill is £110 a month, and that seems to be average.

only thing immigrants should get is a ticket back to their home country

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

looks li ke its got some truth...

Well isn't that nice. All those dreadful immigrants, propping up he NHS for years, and they should've just been given a ticket home. Unless you're being sarcastic, it's hard to tell at this hour.