| The Aspen Card Scandal and the bureaucratic slow violence against refugees.
The Home Office has privately admitted that thousands of asylum seekers continue to be left without working payment cards for more than ten days after their financial support was cut off during a Home Office contract changeover.
The Home Office switched off asylum seekers' debit cards on May 21. Families were told to expect to have their cards from Monday 24 May. But more than a week later, thousands are in a state of near destitution. Men, women and families with babies and children have been forced into a state of destitution after their Aspen cards (a form of debit card issued to asylum seekers so they can buy basic supplies) stopped working. Last week the Home Office sought to minimise the scale of the problem and the suffering caused and in some of it's statements appeared to suggest that asylum seekers themselves were to blame for the issues caused rather than the system itself. The problems have arisen after a Home Office decision to end its Aspen card contract with facilities management company Sodexo and begin a new contract with financial technology firm Prepaid Financial Services, which is currently mired in controversy to do with about money laundering concerns. It remains to be seen whether the new cards work properly. We have had multiple reports that cards either have no money on them, or they work once and then stop working a few days later. Glasgow is familiar with the bureaucratic slow violence that the Home Office inflicts with alarming regularity on our refugee population. Prepaid Financial Services, has not commented thus far. The Company, a subsidiary of EML Payments, came under fire earlier this month from Ireland's central bank because of significant money-laundering risks. Instead of paying contractors to accommodate asylum seekers, should we not harness the immense skills and qualifications and allow people to do paid work and save money and build up resilience. Not only would this reduce the burden on the taxpayer it would allow people to contribute to their community while spending years waiting for the Home Office to make robust decisions on asylum cases?
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Call to Action
Write to your MP in your own words (using any of the text above) and also to the Home Secretary, and express your concerns.
We would like to know what piloting or testing of the New Aspen Card the Home Office undertook before inflicting further hardship on thousands of adults and children already living in a state of near destitution as well as blatant hostility for their presence in the U.K..
What due diligence checks did the Home Office do?
Remember to to copy your correspondence to home@positiveactionh.org. (Our detailed statement and full contact details for the Home Secretary can be found here).
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Thank you, as ever, for your support,
Robina Qureshi
Director
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