Reading Refugee Support Group charity 'faces closure'

A charity that gives advice to asylum seekers in Berkshire has said it could close because of a lack of funding.

The Reading Refugee Support Group only has enough money to continue until March and has said it needs to raise £50,000 to continue beyond then.

The charity said cuts in funding from local government and other external sources were "putting severe pressure" on the group.

It said it had seen a 14.6% drop in income compared to this time last year.

The group, set up in 1994, says it has helped hundreds of persecuted men, women and children "from some of the most unsafe countries in the world live without fear of persecution while they settle in the town or wait to have their claims for asylum processed".

Manager Alison McQuitty said without the charity's services, asylum seekers would have nowhere else to turn.

"We've had financial support from Reading Borough Council and also other grant-giving foundations but, like all small charities in these straightened financial times, we are facing a reduction.

"Services we provide at the moment are an advice service, so that is giving people information about where they can find good solicitors, or dealing with the Home Office, or how they can access their legal rights.

"This service is not duplicated anywhere else in Reading."