Dispersal
ⓘ Information card
If you have claimed asylum, and do not have anywhere to live and/or money to support yourself, you may be able to apply for “asylum support”. This is provided by the Home Office and includes housing and/or basic living expenses.
Asylum support is provided by the Home Office while your asylum claim is being considered (this means while you are waiting for a decision), or after your claim for asylum has been refused in some instances.
Asylum support is different from mainstream welfare benefits.
To begin with, if you have nowhere to live, you will usually be placed in temporary initial accommodation by the Home Office (called ‘section 98 support’). This might be a hostel or a hotel, where you will be housed with other people seeking asylum. You should be provided with food, and a small amount of money for essential living expenses.
Next, after some months (or maybe even a year), you will be moved to new – less temporary – accommodation, usually a flat or shared house, somewhere else in the country. This is a policy called ‘dispersal’. Dispersal is a government policy that was introduced to spread the cost of providing asylum support to local authorities across the UK. Due to dispersal, you do not have a choice about where in the UK you are housed under Home Office accommodation. You can be dispersed to anywhere in the UK.
You will now qualify for what is known as section 95 support, which is housing plus approximately £49.18 per week for each person. If you have a safe place you can stay for free, you may be able to apply for “subs-only” section 95.
To learn more about asylum support and dispersal, and what can happen to the amount of support you receive from the Home Office if you start working, read our Toolkit page about Asylum Support.
Now read the problem cards below. Discuss with a friend (or have a think if you’re doing this alone) what you might be able to do in this situation. When you have finished, click to reveal a suggested action.
⚠️ Problem card
You have applied for asylum accommodation from the Home Office because you do not have anywhere to live. You are placed in initial accommodation for a few months, then dispersed to a shared flat in a town where you don’t know anyone.
⚠️ Problem card
You identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or intersex (LGBTQIA+) and are experiencing harassment in your dispersal accommodation based on this.
⚠️ Problem card
You do not feel comfortable, as a woman, having a male housing officer in your asylum accommodation.
⚠️ Problem card
You are experiencing ongoing violence from your partner, but did not disclose this prior to dispersal. You feel unsafe being in accommodation with your partner.
⚠️ Problem card
After you have had your screening interview and been dispersed, you are being made to wait many months for your asylum interview, and don’t even have a date for it yet.
For many people, waiting is one of the most stressful parts of the asylum system. Long periods of time can go by, making people feel uncertain about the future.