Following an urgent application by DPG to the High Court, there is now a special procedure in place for destitute refused asylum seekers who have been refused S4 support to be able to get emergency accommodation while they are waiting for their appeal to be heard by the Asylum Support Tribunal. Although the High Court claim was about S4 support on ‘pure-covid’ grounds, the order can apply to any refusal of s. 4 support decisions where destitution is not disputed.
You do not need a solicitor to make this application, and your client does not need legal aid. As soon as the s.4 appeal has been sent to the Asylum Support Tribunal, an application can be sent to the High Court. A very straightforward template designed by the Asylum Support Appeals Project is attached, with a simple guide at the end of that document including details on where to send the form.
We are aware of several of these applications being made already, and all of them have been successful, so if you know of someone who needs s4 accommodation pending their appeal, please advise or assist them with the application. All of the applications we are aware of have however been made by solicitors and I would really like to encourage non-solicitors to give this a go.
We are trying to monitor the number of people who use this special procedure as this will be important to show that it is needed and should continue, so please could you let us know by emailing me with any decision you get from the Court, successful or unsuccessful.
Any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Please note this is the same procedure Deborah Gellner wrote to the group about a few weeks ago. I am writing about it again in case anyone missed it the first time around, and to let people know that it is working well as it is helping destitute people to access accommodation while they are waiting for their s. 4 appeal to be heard.
Sasha Rozansky
Law for Life