Could you live on £35 a week? (Asylum related)

who pays the airfare?

It's going to come out of that £35. If you're eager enough to get away from whatever you left behind, you'll manage it. If you're not then you should probably ask about flight tickets.

I am not certain but I think this person did get some kind of set up grant; not sure if that was purely baby related.

Anyhow I am off to bed.

And I am still trying to work out how best to help.

I see where ONE is coming from.

And as for terry nappies, I don't think we're talking about the middle class ones with the inane cutesy fluffy names and their covers and wraps. We're talking the plain old square of terry cloth and a pin, if available, which is what I assume people in that situation would be using anyway?

I do understand that we can't just give out loads of cash and make it too attractive a proposition, but surely we can make it possible for a woman to feed and clothe her baby?

These are fellow human beings, ONE. They have already had their souls destroyed. Have some compassion.

It must be appalling for you zoay - as a caring person at the sharp end after the mistakes have been made ?

ONE - i do understand and agree to an extent with what you are saying

i dont think it should be easy - not at all - i think our policy on immigration - economic or refugee should have been much, much tougher a long time ago

i also think our policy on the welfare state should have been tougher from a long time ago

i think there should be some sweeping and immediate changes - then perhaps we could be more humane to those who are desperate both national and refugee

being pragmatic about it, why should we? this country is well on the way to being bankrupt as it is. unemployment is about to go through the roof, and our borrowings are way in excess of our GDP. this is an island, there is a finited number of people it can support, and that number is ever-rising. there WILL come a point where we have no choice but to close the doors. apart from "morality" why should we take people from countries many thousands of miles away, when there are richer, less densely population countries on the way here?

In Mothercare it's £10 for 6 terry squares - you're going to need twice that to have enough for 2-3 days, which is the minimum you can manage, particularly with no tumble drier. THen you need waterproof wraps - their cheapest are £5 for a pack. So that's £25. Admittedly that's considerably less than the inane cutesy ones I use, but it's still £25. Which leaves you £5 in your week.

Of course, you might get them cheaper if you go online, but I'm guessing internet access is limited, not least by lack of language skills.

Well morality is my reason. I think it would be a poorer world if we ignored this kind of thing and yes, it's going to cost us, but I think we have to accept that.

We do, she's just feeding her child on basics and clothing him/her from the charity shop and even then having to think very carefully about every penny.

Also, Nick, immigrants (which obviously doesn't just mean asylum-seekers) have brought huge benefit to this country in all sorts of ways. Take One, for instance...

Apologies for the cutesy nappy names comment, it was rather waspish, wasn't it?

Anyway, pregnant asylum seekers are entitled to the Maternity grant, according to CAB, which is around £300.

ETA: obviously whether people are actually informed about the grant etc., is another argument altogether.

I do think we need to examine our immigration policy, and asylum aside, I think there are huge historical reasons why people come to the UK. We did colonise 70% of the earths population at one point in time, and we are still heavily involved in the interests & politics of many troubled nations. When you have traffic going in one direction, I guess it's only logical that it will probably come back in the other eventually. From that standpoint I do actually think we have a responsibility on some level as the UK has benefited hugely from our dealings globally in the last century or so. Part of those dealings has also lead to the displacement of people, Iraq being an obvious and current example.

In reply to £35 a week - no, I think I would find that near on impossible to live on with a baby, and I would definitely have to be very desperate to come to a foreign country on my own with a baby. This thread has actually made me feel a bit upset as I hate to think what conditions would drive me to have to make that choice.

The two are really very different issues, we certainly had a responsibility to Empire/Commonwealth, whether we still do or not is... Debateable. Especially given our legal responsibilities within the EU.

But when is the cut of point for responsibilty ONE?

In fairness I did use Iraq, from which there have been many recent asylum seekers, as an example to demonstrate my point.

we no longer have the luxury of of morality though, for financial and population reasons. do you agree with going into iraq/afghanistan?

Absolutely agree.

I agree that not knowing how this country 'works' means AS cannot access the cheapest way to do things. I have some very cheap second hand reusable nappies - ebay.

I have internet access. If I didn't have it, I know that I can get it free in libraries. I have pretty good English, so I knew how to bid. Oh - and I could read up on disposables too, so I knew what I was ordering. How on earth would an non-English speaker even with a dictionary know to search ebay for the word 'terry'?!

Then I could pay for them through Paypal - because I have a bank account, a debit card, to create a Paypal account. If I'm living in a cash only economy, I'm screwed on buying secondhand from ebay.

Nest, I have a safe address to receive them - *if* they get lost on post - I haven't lost half my week's money - so low risk. And no-one else in my 'home' is going to take the parcel and steal it, because it's just me here.

Even better is freecycle - but I'm newly arrived in the UK, and I've never heard of it. And - I'll take this to extremes here, I admit... what if I write a badly worded 'I'm from Zimbabwe and my baby and I have nothing, I would love your nappies please' - and just get 'turned down' in favour of the far wealthier but environmentally conscious person who says 'I'd love to try reusables, but not sure if they'll work for us - would love yours please' - whom the giver decides sounds more 'her type' and not someone probably trying to scam me with a sob story anyway.

Oh yeah - and even if I get offered them... I've no idea how to use the bus to collect them, because I'm not long arrived...

So yeah - I could make £35 stretch quite a way if I *had* to. But only because I know some 'tricks'. And I bet there are loads more that actually I don't know about even being native born - because I've never had to find out.

Asylum is a different issue from immigration. Regardless of the nation an asylum seeker comes from or the cause of their difficulty, we have responsibility if Britain is the first 'safe' nation they reach after leaving their home and none if it isn't, aswell as any treaty obligations of course, but in terms of 'seeking asylum' the validity of the claim should have been assesed in that first nation.

Immigration? Responsibility for the citizens of any nation we formerly colonized ended round about the time we left.....

I might have agreed if we'd done it for humanitarian reasons. I still think we have more money to play with than your average sub-Saharan African.

I think if you managed your money well, you could easily live on £35 a week. i know a couple of people that work, and after mortgage is paid, they live on a lot less. one of my friends has 4 children and lives on £40 a week for food, clothes etc. she is very clever with her money. she never complains that she doesnt have enough money and her children want for nothing

And not as much as the average American, Australian or Saudi.

They're not exactly throwing the doors open are they?

ETA:- Just to be clear, I mean to us as economic migrants.

This scheme is available in lots of areas http://www.nappies.org/index.htm would really help her out, if its available in her area

I don't think the average sub-Saharan African normally uses disposible or indeed Terry nappies! Or indeed formula! And they seem to manage quite fine without Mothercare stores in their villages too!!! I don't think we can compare their ways of living with what the average UK mother would deem 'essential baby items'. It's just different.

I have no doubt that their standard of living over here with free, decent accommodation with a kitchen and bathroom, electricity and heating, free access to healthcare and £35 a week in their pocket is way above what they have escaped from.

I've also been in many an Asylum Detention Centre and they do receive a lot of support from charities and other organisations and access to all sorts of information and support services. You offer them a flight home or to another country and most would rather do a runner than accept it so we can't be doing too much wrong.

Clarry-Love

Right, so that will apply to Iraq when we pull our troops out next summer? As soon as we leave we simply dust off our hands and leave them to it?

The impact of colonisation can last for deacdes, look at the middle east, Africa, etc so I really dissagree that we are absolved of all responsibilty at the point at which we physically leave. What about neo-colonialism, it isn't just a physical presence in which we are involved in the affairs of nations and their economies. Sorry ONE but I think your view is a little too simpistic and a bit naieve. As citizens we may not like it that people come to this country and use our resources, but we can't pretend that our governments over the decades haven't played a major role on a global scale to keep us at the top of the tree. There is a price for that.

I don't mean to be.. well.. mean.. but surely to say they want for nothing is flippant? Thats just £2,000 a year- I am pretty sure (and if my internet connection wasn't dog slow I could check) that that is considered living in poverty. Clearly they either have reserves to get them through holidays/ emergancies etc.. or they are wanting, because I can't see how a family of at least 4 could live on that after mortgage and bills.

No, you probably don't. But that doesn't mean it's not entirely possible.

People genuinely don't understand how others with vastly different incomes live. I know I've used this example before, but if you take someone who's spent a long time on benefits, ask them about their ideal (realistic) lifestyle and get them to 'cost' it, nine out of ten will produce an annual figure lower than NMW. That's how 'divorced' they are from understanding what it actually means to have money.

It works the other way round too.

But presumably when they live in the UK and have left their home country without very much, they have to use what is available in the UK?

We have no greater responsibility to Iraqis than we did before the most recent British intervention there, nor any less.

And with regard to other 'debts' they're more than paid. I could make a reasonable case that many former outposts of Empire should be paying us for building the nations they now inhabit. Sorry, not buying into 'national guilt' in any shape or form.

In principle Nick, I don't disagree with you, I was just questioning this specific example of them "wanting for nothing" at £2000 a year, the adult could not even consider say, emergancy (or indeed any) dental work (and I'm assuming these people are not on benefits due to the craveat "after their mortgage they have £40 a week")

I've just finished reading Kath Kellys "how I lived on £1 a day for a year" its very middle class, and she is a single woman living in a shared house (the £1 a day is after rent in which bills are included) but she found it very very hard and sacrificed ALOT. and she's a single woman.