The case concerned a vulnerable asylum-seeking family with two children from Azerbaijan who were eligible for accommodation and support under section 95 Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 but had been refused support by the Home Office on the basis they were not destitute.
The appeal raised important issues such as to the extent the Home Office can rely on assets in the country of origin to argue an absence destitution, their requirement for costly certified translations from destitute families in order to prove their destitution and the extent of the Asylum Support Tribunal’s jurisdiction to make findings on the credibility of an appellant’s claim to have fled persecution. It also addressed the extent of the Home Office’s statutory duties regarding the children under section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009.
Bryony Poynor represented the family pro bono instructed by the Asylum Support Appeals Project.
