Rights, entitlements and support
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Page last updated: July 2025
After your claim for asylum has been registered, you may be able to receive asylum support while your claim is being considered. This will depend on your circumstances and whether you are able to support yourself and your dependents.
You are not usually allowed to claim government benefits (including Universal Credit) before the Home Office has made a decision on your asylum claim. You might also hear this described as having no recourse to public funds.
Asylum support is provided by the Home Office. The Home Office provides different types of asylum support depending which stage of the asylum process you are in.
To find out about the different types of asylum support that you may be able to receive, please click on the different options below.
Section 98 (S98) support is emergency support you might receive when you first arrive in the UK or immediately after you make a claim for asylum.
The Home Office will carry out a destitution test to see whether you are eligible for S98 support. If you have been in the UK on a visa, this means you will need to explain how and why your circumstances have changed so that you can no longer support yourself. You will need to provide evidence to show this.
If you are eligible for S98 support, you will be provided with hotel accommodation, food and toiletries. Accommodation is provided on a no-choice basis. This means that it will be assigned to you and might be anywhere in the UK.
If you are applying for Section 98 support, you should take all your belongings with you to the screening interview. There is no right to appeal a decision from the Home Office if they decide you are not eligible. However, the Home Office should let you know why the support has been refused and you can apply again if your circumstances change.
Section 95 (S95) is ongoing support you can receive if you are unable to support yourself while you are waiting for an asylum decision. You should apply for Section 95 support through Migrant Help once you move to your Section 98 accommodation, if an application has not already been made for you. You can apply for S95 support before you have your asylum screening interview.
If S95 support is granted, you will be received weekly support payments from the Home Office. If accommodation becomes available, you can be dispersed from your S98 hotel accommodation into a shared flat or house. This accommodation is usually on a no-choice basis, but you can make a request to be housed in a specific area if your immediate family is there, or if you have ongoing medical care needs. This request needs to be included in the S95 application and you will need to provide evidence.
Once your S95 support is approved, you will be entitled to weekly financial support from the Home Office. This financial support will be paid to you on a card called an ASPEN card, which you can use at cash machines or in shops.
- If you are living in catered S98 hotel accommodation, the weekly allowance is £8.86 per week.
- If you are living in self-catered or dispersed accommodation, the weekly allowance is £49.18 per week
- If you are pregnant or have a child aged 1 to 3, you will receive an extra £5.25 per child each week.
- If you have a baby under 1, you will receive an extra £9.50 each week.
- If you are pregnant, you can also apply for a one-off maternity grant of £300. You can apply for this from 11 weeks before the due date to 6 months after the birth.
Timescales for Section 95 applications can vary a lot. Most people begin receiving their financial S95 support before being dispersed into S95 accommodation.
If the Home Office grants you leave to remain in the UK, your S95 support will end 56 days after the date on your asylum decision letter. This is because you will be allowed to work and to claim mainstream benefits from this point.
If the Home Office refuses your claim for permission to remain in the UK, your S95 support will end 21 days after the date on your decision letter unless you make an appeal or a new claim.
To find out about your rights and entitlements while your asylum claim is being processed, please click on the options below.
As an asylum seeker, you are entitled to free healthcare through the National Health Service (NHS). This means that it will not cost you any money to visit a doctor or get hospital treatment. Medicine prescribed by an NHS doctor is free in Scotland.
There are costs for some types of healthcare, including glasses or contact lenses and some dental treatments.
If you are on asylum support, you can apply for an HC2 certificate to cover these costs. This application should be made to Migrant Help. The certificate will have an expiry date, and you will need to renew this before it expires, or you may not be able to access the care that you need.
If you are appeal rights exhausted in Scotland, you can still get an HC2 certificate. You will need to apply online rather than through Migrant Help.
In some cases, for example if you have been tortured, trafficked or experienced sexual violence, there may be organisations that can offer healthcare support outside the NHS. You can contact Migrant Help or the Scottish Refugee Council Helpline for help finding these organisations.
It is important to get legal advice to help you with your asylum claim. It is also important to make sure you are getting advice from someone who is properly qualified.
- A solicitor is a type of lawyer who can help you to manage and prepare your case.
- An immigration adviser is someone who is qualified to give immigration advice. They are not solicitors. An immigration adviser can help you with most things to do with immigration, including helping you to fill in the right forms and representing you at a tribunal.
Solicitors and immigration advisers do not make immigration decisions. The Home Office will make the decisions about an asylum claim.
The Immigration Advice Authority (IAA) (previously known as the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner OISC) is a regulatory body which lists all organisations and individuals in the UK suitably qualified to provide immigration advice.
The IAA also includes solicitors and advocates (referred to as barristers in England & Wales) in Scotland. Its mission is to ensure that high-quality legal advice is easily accessible to those who need it.
You can use the IAA Adviser Finder tool to find advisers near you.
You can find solicitors who give immigration advice in Scotland through the Law Society Scotland.
You can also find lists of immigration solicitors in Edinburgh and Glasgow here.
Legal Aid
If you do not have enough money to pay for a lawyer, you may be entitled to legal aid to cover the cost of legal representation for your asylum claim.
Legal aid will pay for:
- your lawyer to prepare your asylum claim
- preparing you for the asylum interview
- advising of the Home Office’s decision
- liaising with the Home Office on your behalf
- a professional interpreter to attend appointments with your lawyer
- translation of evidence
- medical or country expert reports if needed
There are several different legal organisations in the UK where you can access further information about finding advice or legal aid, including:
Asylum Aid | Protection from Persecution
Asylum Aid is a charity which offers free, confidential and independent legal advice and representation. The advice line offers free one-off legal advice. The number for the advice line is: 0207 354 9264.
The Advice Line is open Mondays 2.00 pm – 4:30pm and Thursdays 10.00 am – 12:30pm.
Immigration Law Practitioner’s Association is an association of lawyers specialising in immigration and nationality law.
Community Legal Advice is a legal advice support service. They provide legal assistance to individuals and families who can’t hire a lawyer. They can help with several issues including family and housing law and how to find a Legal Aid lawyer.
ESOL
If you are in the asylum process you can access part-time or full-time ESOL (English for speakers of other languages). Unfortunately, there are many more people wanting to study than there are places available. You may have to wait for some time before you get a place on an ESOL course.
School for children
All children in the UK must attend school if they are aged between 5 and 16 years old. There are no school fees to attend a state school, and your child may be able to get free school meals. You may be able to get help with the cost of school clothing and supplies from the Scottish Government or from the school. To find out more, contact your local council or speak to the school your child is attending.
College and university
As an asylum seeker, you are allowed to study at a college or university in Scotland.
If you are an asylum seeker and you were under the age of 18 when your asylum claim was made, you can get financial support to cover the tuition fees for full-time college education. You can also access Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) tuition fee funding for HNC or HND courses at Scottish colleges and for degree courses at Scottish universities.
If you were over the age of 18 when your asylum claim was made, you may have to pay international tuition fees which can be very high. You can only access part-time education in college, and will not have access to SAAS for HNC, HND or university degrees. You may be able to apply for scholarships or other funding. For more information, visit Displaced Student Opportunities UK.
Once you have received leave to remain in the UK with refugee or humanitarian protection status, you will be eligible for home fees status and you will be able to access UK student finance for college and university.
If you have discretionary leave to remain with no recourse to public funds, you will need to wait until you have been living in the UK for three years before you can access funding for some college courses, but you will be able to access SAAS funding for HNC, HND and university courses without waiting for three years.
For more information on accessing education when you have refugee status, please visit our page on education for new refugees.
For more information about the right to study and access to fees and funding, visit the website of the UK Council for International Student Affairs. You can also contact Skills Development Scotland for help exploring your education options.
You are not normally allowed to work while your asylum claim is being considered. There are a few exceptions:
- If you were in the UK on a visa with permission to work before you applied for asylum, you may still have the right to work through Section 3C leave. Seek advice if you’re not sure whether this applies to you.
- If you have been waiting for a decision on your asylum claim for more than 12 months, you can apply for permission to work. If permission is granted, you will only be allowed to work in certain jobs.
Click here to visit our page on permission to work for asylum seekers.
You are allowed to volunteer while you are waiting for a decision to be made on your claim. This can be a useful way to build work experience and references that will help you later. You can only volunteer for charitable or public sector organisations.
If you want to find out more about volunteering, click here to register for our next volunteering information afternoon.
