Home Office food provision leaving some asylum seekers malnourished – report

Food provided to asylum seekers by Home Office contractors is of such poor quality that some people are ending up malnourished in hospital, a report has found.

The paper found that it was difficult or impossible to meet nutritional needs and some people ended up in hospital with nutrition-related conditions. Cases of malnutrition among children and diabetes among adults were identified.

Food poisoning, weight loss and diabetes were particular problems and there were reports of children “crying with hunger”. Some children lost significant amounts of weight and were not meeting their developmental milestones.

A lot of food ended up being binned and when fruit was provided, it was often already rotting and attracting flies. Hairs, mould and insects were found in food and sometimes raw or undercooked meat and chicken were served.

Food such as yoghurt was sometimes provided after it had passed its sell-by date. Particular concerns were raised about infant feeding and parents’ inability to access facilities to sterilise bottles.

Tuesday’s paper, titled Food Experiences of People Seeking Asylum in London: Areas for Local Action, surveyed people seeking asylum across London along with representatives from 18 London boroughs, health professionals, academics, voluntary sector organisations and the Greater London Authority. The research was carried out between October 2023 and February 2024.

Both the Home Office and its contractor Clearsprings, which manages asylum accommodation in London, were invited to participate in the research, but declined. It was published by Sustain, a coalition of food campaigning groups, along with the Jesuit Refugee Service UK and Life Seekers Aid, an organisation run by asylum seekers and refugees.

Some Muslim mothers reported being asked to “swear on your child’s life” that they were fasting during Ramadan before they were allowed to receive iftar, the fast-breaking evening meal.

Asylum seekers said they knew that Home Office contractors were making profits out of providing poor food for them. “We are the holy cash cow,” said one.

The report found a “sense of cruelty that food is deliberately being used to demoralise and dehumanise”.

Good practice was identified by some London boroughs working in partnership with local organisations. Key areas for local action are outlined in the report, as well as recommendations of how councils can work with local organisations to improve the situation.

Sarah Teather, the director at Jesuit Refugee Service UK, said: “This report lays bare the horrifying impact of food insecurity for people in the asylum system: children going to bed crying in hunger, people becoming ill because of the only food they can eat, a daily struggle to make ends meet. These are ultimately the result of a deliberate policy to force people seeking asylum to live in poverty.”

Isabel Rice, the London food poverty campaign coordinator at Sustain, said: “The shocking findings of this report are a clear call to action. People seeking sanctuary in this country should have their nutritional needs met, and agency over the food they eat. This report reveals that this is not happening, with catastrophic impacts on people’s physical and mental health.”

Clearsprings has been approached for comment. A Home Office spokesperson said: “The food provided in asylum hotels meets all the NHS Eatwell standards as well as responding to all cultural and dietary requirements.

“Where concerns are raised about any aspect of the service delivered in a hotel, we work with the provider to ensure these concerns are addressed, while asylum seekers have access to a 24/7 helpline to raise any concerns they have and are able to make formal complaints, which will be followed up.”