When asylum seekers arrive in the UK, they are not eligible for benefits. Those who do not have anywhere else to live are provided with government-funded housing. Those who are not able to meet essential needs can access basic Home Office funds to cover food, clothing and toiletries.
The sums in question are paltry. As of December 2023, asylum seekers housed in self-catering facilities are given £49.18 per week, per person. Those housed in hotels get £8.86.
Private tech companies are increasingly encroaching on the delivery of public funds to vulnerable people. These are distributed via a prepayment system called the Asylum Support Enablement (Aspen) card, provided by Prepaid Financial Services (PFS, a subsidiary of EML Payments Ltd).
This is the same technology used by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ refugee cash assistance programme in Greece. Research there has shown that it restricts asylum seekers’ mobility and constrains what they can purchase.
We have found similar patterns in the UK. Our recent study shows this technology isolates asylum seekers…
