Charities ‘picking up the pieces’ for asylum seekers, Holyrood is told

Charities and faith groups are “picking up the pieces” for refugees and asylum seekers left destitute in Scotland, MSPS have been told.

Holyrood’s Equalities and Human Rights Committee heard claims the Home Office was “profiteering” from desperate people.

The committee took evidence on the back of its 2017 report into destitution among those with insecure immigration status in Scotland.

MSPS heard “harrowing” details of cases including a mother and baby who only received £25 over the course of eight months, a six-year-old 0 Robina Qureshi: dealing with desperate people girl who had spent her entire life in B&B accommodation and a pregnant homeless woman who failed to attend maternity appointments due to being charged for care.

Robina Qureshi, director of Positive Action in Hous- ing, said they were dealing with “very desperate” people including one client who had been on the verge of throwing herself and her children into a river before receiving help.

The Glasgow-based refugee and migrant homelessness and human rights charity assisted 1,400 refugee families and individuals in 2017/18.

Fiona Macleod, senior policy and public affairs officer for the British Red Cross Scotland, said the charity had helped 516 adults and children who had presented as destitute in the first quarter of the year and 1,553 across the whole of 2017.