Destitute asylum seekers in Scotland to lose safety net when Destitution Grants programme is suspended

The Refugee Survival Trust, a small Scottish charity supporting asylum seekers and refugees, has today written to its partners to inform them that after many years of continuous operation, it will most likely be forced to suspend applications to its Destitution Grants programme at the end of the month. RST’s…

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Latest RST News, out now!

Keep up with all the latest RST news in our bumper Spring 2018 newsletter! Find out about new developments in the Destitute Asylum Seeker Service, see what we’ve been up to on the outreach and integration side of things, and enjoy a beautiful selection of Glasgow photos taken by current…

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Youth Philanthropy Initiative with Mearns Castle High School

The Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) is an active citizenship programme that raises awareness amongst young people about philanthropy and their local community. Each participating school, each year is responsible for directing a £3000 YPI Grant to a local charity through a unique programme of team work, research and competition….

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Asylum in UK Parliamentary Report on Immigration and Consensus

Guest blog by Katharine Weatherhead In January 2018, the UK Parliament published a report called Immigration policy: basis for building consensus. Written by a committee of MPs, the report is the outcome of an inquiry into “whether it might be possible to build greater consensus on immigration policy” in the…

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In the news again…

Our record-breaking year in 2017 has been picked up by The Ferret, which today features an in-depth article about Scotland’s “invisible epidemic” of refugee destitution. The article, by Karin Goodwin, looks at the increase in demand on services such as RST’s destitution grants programme, as well as other support services provided by…

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RST Destitution Grants April – September 2017

Overview The first half of 2017-18 has once again seen an increase in the number of people applying for Destitution Grants from the Refugee Survival Trust, in comparison to previous years. Q1 & Q2 2015-16 – 370 grants distributed to a value of £25,821 Q1 & Q2 2016-17 – 410 grants…

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New refugees and destitution

You are an asylum seeker in Glasgow. You have been in the asylum process for several years, working to persuade the Home Office that your claim for asylum is genuine and that you cannot return to your home country. Finally a decision is made – you have been granted refugee…

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Nationalities of RST grant recipients

From April to December 2016, RST provided 619 destitution grants to refugees and asylum seekers. The grants came to a total of £53,919.45, with an average of £87.11. The top three nationalities of grant recipients were: Eritrean (14.7%), Syrian (11.9%), and Iranian (11.1%). Why do people flee from these countries?…

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