Resource

All of the Helen Bamber Foundation's clients live in London and many receive asylum support, including under section 95, section 98 and section 4(2) of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. The low asylum support rates affect them in myriad ways, permeating much of their life in the UK and acting to the detriment of their emotional, material and physical wellbeing. Many of our clients report that they struggle to attend important meetings such as hospital appointments because of the cost of public transport.

This proposal looks at the challenges facing survivors of torture and trafficking living in London who are reliant on Home Office asylum support, and calls for the provision of free bus travel within London zones 1-6 to those seeking asylum. This would ensure that people seeking asylum are able to travel to necessary appointments and meetings and live with more freedom and dignity. Click on the arrow below to read the proposal in full. 

“Ultimately, if you cannot afford to travel, what do you spend your time doing? Locked in your room, recounting the trauma you have been through to get here and with no outlet available for you to have an activity or something to look forward to. Your mental health deteriorates really really quickly. It is just a natural human instinct not to be alone. So being able to travel at a cost that is not prohibitive should not be a thing people need to think about, it should just be available.”

HBF Client