INTRODUCTION: Freedom from Torture (formerly known as the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture) is a UK-based human rights organisation and one of the world’s largest torture treatment centres. Since our foundation in 1985, more than 50,000 people have been referred to us for rehabilitation and other forms of care and practical assistance. In 2012, our centres in Birmingham, Glasgow, London, Manchester and Newcastle provided services to almost 1400 clients from around 65 different countries.

The vast majority of survivors that Freedom from Torture supports are asylum seekers or refugees who have fled torture in other parts of the world to seek a safe haven in this country. They often spend months and even years in ‘limbo’ while decisions are taken by the Home Office and the courts as to whether they will be granted protection (‘asylum’) and the right to remain in the UK as refugees. During this period they are almost never permitted to support themselves by working and are excluded from mainstream welfare benefits. Instead, an entirely separate asylum support regime provides them with significantly lower levels of income than those of mainstream welfare benefits recipients, and basic accommodation where this is necessary to avoid destitution. As a result, many asylum-seeking torture survivors are unable to meet essential living needs, are forced to live in poor and inappropriate housing, and experience destitution. For those recognised as refugees, poverty-related problems usually continue as they attempt to enter the mainstream welfare system or, for those well enough to work, as they attempt to find employment.

For many years Freedom from Torture clinicians have been concerned about the impact of these impoverished living conditions on torture survivors’ prospects for rehabilitation, and the effect of torture on survivors’ ability to cope with such difficult circumstances without experiencing further deterioration in their physical and mental health…