The Second Destitution Tally

The Destitution Tally, published by the Asylum Support Partnership in January 2008, was the first attempt to capture statistics on destitution throughout the UK. The summary of reports at the end of this report shows that studies by other organisations have collected statistics on destitution within particular localities but not nationwide. The Asylum Support Partnership was uniquely able to provide a national picture through its network of services offering advice on asylum support to asylum seekers, refused asylum seekers and refugees in key locations throughout the UK. A simple survey was completed for every visit made to the services in a four-week period in November and December 2007. The Asylum Support Partnership decided to repeat the survey in order to demonstrate the persistence of destitution as a feature of the lives of asylum seekers and refugees and as a feature of the work of its services, and to understand further its extent and causes. The Second Destitution Tally survey took place between 1st and 31st October, 2008. As before, a simple survey was completed for each visit to one of the participating services.