BRUTAL AND INHUMANE
Angry campaigners slam plans to lock hundreds of refugees out of their homes
Hundreds of asylum seekers are set to be made homeless when a public services contractor begin changing the locks on their homes.
Documents passed to the Sunday Mail reveal Serco – who supply accommodation to refugees – are to trigger a programme codenamed Move-on.
It will target up to 300 people in Glasgow who have had applications for refugee status rejected by the Home Office.
The firm have admitted an initial six “lock change notices” will be issued tomorrow, with the action carried out seven days later.
Other orders will then be issued on a rolling basis.
Until now, refugees have been al lowed to remain in their accommodation while appealing decisions or making alternative living arrangements.
Scottish Labour MSP Mary Fee has said she is “utterly dismayed” by Serco’s “brutal decision” and described the move as “scandalous and lacking any compassion”. The plans are outlined in an email from a Serco senior manager titled “Move-on pathway” sent to a number of agencies involved in supporting refugees.
It says: “Serco are now consistently accommodating approximately 250 - 300 former asylum seekers at any given time who have received a negative decision at our own expense.”
It adds that the firm would be “commencing with the issuing of lock change notices” for “asylum seekers who have received a negative decision” as of July 30. But the programme has been heavily criticised.
West Scotland MSP Fee, said: “I’m utterly dismayed by Serco’s brutal decision to lock asylum seekers out of their properties across Glasgow.
“Their decision to change the locks on properties is scandalous and lacks any compassion.
“The reality is that Serco are conducting a mass extrajudicial eviction of some of the most vulnerable people in our society. There will be hundreds more people sleeping rough on Glasgow’s streets.
“This decision reveals yet again the callous and inhumane nature of the UK Tory Government’ s‘ Hostile Environment’ policy.” Shafiq Mohammed of the Asylum Seeker Housing Project, added: “We’re very concerned that vulnerable people are going to end up on the streets.
“Many asylum seekers have decisions overturned on appeal and it should be remembered these are people f leeing warzones in Syria and Iraq.” Serco director Jenni Halliday said: “We’ve been providing housing free of charge to over 300 former asylum seekers who no longer have the right to stay in the UK.
“Each of these former asylum seekers has been refused the right to stay in the UK by the Government and the Home Office does not fund Serco to provide them with accommodation.
“While we’re sympathetic to their plight, we believe we have been more than supportive of these individuals by providing them with an additional period of housing in which to make alternative arrangements but we cannot continue to provide free housing indefinitely. We have therefore started legal proceedings to repossess our properties.”
The Home Office said: “Asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute are provided with free, fully-furnished accommodation while applications are considered.
“However it is right that we prepare for someone’s removal if they do not have a lawful basis to stay in the UK and they are not pursuing an appeal.”
The Scottish Government said asylum seekers should be treated fairly and with respect and would continue to call on the UK Government to make its asylum system more humane.
More people will be sleeping rough on the streets