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Afghan refugees will have just £39.63 a week to live on in the UK
With no option to work in the UK, refugees are left with just £5 a day to get by
The UK government will give the refugees fleeing Afghanistan just £39.63 per week to live off, startling new figures have shown today.
While refugees will be given free housing and accommodation, they will not have permission to work in the UK, leaving them no other choice but to rely on the benefits provided by the government.
To put it into context, their allowance, which works out at just £5.64 a day, can be used on one Tesco meal deal and a box of cereal.
Red Cr
The UN Refugee Agency UNHCR has branded this decision as ‘completely wrong’, saying ‘most refugees rely on a state given benefit of £5.64 per day.’
The agency explained that it is a common misconception that asylum seekers and refugees have the ability to ‘come over here and steal our jobs’ when actually most of them don’t have a right to work.
A spokesperson said: “Asylum seekers often don’t have the right to work in the UK which means there is no possibility of them ever being able to work, let alone ‘steal’ a job.
“Refugees also return a net benefit outcome on our economy when they are allowed to work in this country.”
Here in Manchester, refugee charity Care 4 Calais praised kind-hearted Mancunians for their selflessness after receiving an abundance of donations in money, clothing and toiletries.
Founder Clare Moseley, who set up the charity in 2015, said on the efforts: “It’s just been fantastic.
“I’m a Northerner myself and we’re really proud of Manchester for responding in this way. We’ve had numerous locations accepting donations for us and I believe they are pretty full. We have had people bringing car loads and van loads of stuff.”
For more information on how you can help the refugees fleeing Afghanistan, visit the following links:
British Red Cross
UNICEF
AllWeCan.org
United Nation Refugee Agency
Refugee Council