Inquiry into asylum seeker payment cards for gambling

The Home Office has launched an investigation into claims some asylum seekers may be using payment cards meant for buying essentials such as food for gambling.

A Freedom of Information request made by PoliticsHome revealed more than 6,500 payments in gambling settings were attempted by asylum seekers in the past year.

The payments were made on Aspen cards, given by the Home Office to asylum seekers awaiting a decision to allow them to buy basic items, with small weekly top-ups.

A Home Office spokesperson said they were looking at the transactions and if any cards had been misused, urgent action would be taken.

When asylum seekers first arrive they are usually first put up in fully catered hotels – and given £9.95 a week on their Aspen card, rising to £49.18 a week when they're moved to self-catered accommodation.

However, rather than buying necessities, some asylum seekers have successfully used the chip and pin Aspen cards to gamble at physical sites such as casinos, slot machine arcades and national lottery retailers.

Attempts to gamble online using the cards were made, but were blocked each time, and in some cases, cash withdrawals were made in or near gambling sites, located using the terminal's ID number.

The FoI showed a peak of 227 attempts to use the cards for gambling in one week last November and the lowest number of attempts was 40 in a week last July.

Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said it was wrong for asylum seekers to be gambling using taxpayers' cash, adding: "This madness has to end."

There are currently around 80,000 Aspen card users in the UK and there are strict controls and limits on their use.

The BBC understands action will now be taken to ensure physical gambling is not possible in future.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "The Home Office have begun an investigation into the use of Aspen cards.

"The Home Office has a legal obligation to support asylum seekers, including any dependants, who would otherwise be destitute."

According to latest annual figures, overall benefit fraud in the UK cost £7.4bn last year, around 2.8% of total welfare spending.

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