Section 4 is short-term support provided by the Home Office if your application for asylum has been refused, and your appeals have been unsuccessful.
Normally, the Home Office expects you to either leave the UK voluntarily, or they will make arrangements to remove you. However if you are unable to leave the UK immediately and you would otherwise be homeless or without the money to buy food (that is you are destitute), you may be eligible for Section 4 support while you are preparing to return to your country.
Criteria
There are strict criteria for this and you must prove that you are eligible. We can offer advice on this issue but are not responsible for any decisions about whether or not you should get the support.
If you are granted Section 4 support, you are entitled to accommodation and weekly support to the value of £35. You will be given your weekly support through an automated card payment system, called an ‘Azure’ payment card.
The Azure card is to be used to buy food, toiletries, clothing, cleaning items, or any other items sold in certain shops which have agreed to accept the card.
Qualifying and applying for Section 4 support
We can help you apply for Section 4 support. Alternatively your legal representative, local law centre, Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) or refugee community organisation may also be able to help you to apply.
In order to be eligible for Section 4, you must provide evidence showing that you are destitute, meaning that do not have accommodation or money to buy food. For example:
- you could provide the letter from the Home Office stating you will have to leave the accommodation provided by them within a specified timeframe, making you homeless; or
- a letter from the person or organisation that provided food and accommodation to you, indicating that they can no longer do so.
You must also show that you meet at least one of the following five criteria:
- You are taking reasonable steps to leave the UK. For example, you may have agreed to return voluntarily by asking for assistance from the International Organization for Migration, but you cannot leave immediately because you need a travel document.
- You have applied for judicial review to challenge the refusal of your asylum application (in Scotland, you only need to show that you have applied for judicial review).
- You are unable to travel because there is no safe route available to return. According to the Home Office, there is currently no country to which this applies. Our advisers or your legal representative will be able to tell you if this has changed.
- You are unable to leave the UK because you are unfit to travel. For example, you have a specific illness or are in late pregnancy. This criterion is very strict and you must have a written statement from a doctor stating that you are “unfit to travel”. Most medical problems will not be considered serious enough.
- Fresh asylum claim/human rights claim. Your legal representative has lodged a fresh claim for asylum or a late appeal. The claim will need to have been already sent and you will need to provide copy of all the papers that were sent.
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