A mum living in asylum-seeker accommodation claims she and her child were trapped in their bedroom night after night after their home became infested with what she believes were rats.
Ann (whose name has been changed for safeguarding reasons) has been living in accommodation in Liverpool for a number of years in properties provided by Serco, a company working on behalf of the Home Office. Ann, a single parent, told the ECHO how conditions became so bad for a period that at 4pm each day she would retreat to her bedroom once she could hear what she said were "rats" chewing their way into her home.
She claims she and her child would have to remain there until 5am each morning as there was “nowhere else she could go” as she feared for her safety. The mum claims there was also dilapidation across the wider property which meant she was left with one working socket in her living room and bedroom throughout months of lockdown. She says there would be long periods, predominantly in April and May 2021, where the electricity would break all together - leaving her and her child in complete darkness.
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Serco says there was no rat infestation, but accepts there were mice in the property. The firm added that no faults were raised with them over a lack of working sockets, and said they were "certain that the accommodation met all the required standards."
According to Merseyside Law Centre's David Kenny, who helped Ann with her case, the conditions were evidence of a lack of “adequate asylum accommodation ” in Liverpool, with the picture equally as desperate nationally. Ann told the ECHO how she first noticed vermin in the corridor of her property, but only had issues with what she believed were rats in her bedsit flat from September 2021.
She claims it took 30 days for someone from property services to come out and sort the problem after it was reported, by which time an infestation had gained entry into the bedsit. Serco says treatment was carried out within eight days, with three further follow up visits from when the issue was reported and November 23.
Ann told the ECHO: “My child’s toys in the living room got spoiled with the droppings. My living room was where we used to sit and eat. When in my bedroom I could hear every time they were in there. I could almost feel them in there, but could not see them.”
Ann said that while waiting for the issue to be addressed fully, a temporary solution of sticky traps was provided. She claimed it was a further three weeks from setting the sticky traps before more comprehensive treatment was carried out. Ann explained she got “so sick of the issue” she went to her friend's house on a Saturday. When she came back there were four "rats" on the sticky traps, that were all living and not dead.
She added: “I’ve never seen rats in my house in my life. That was the first time I had encountered them. My child was so scared.” Videos sent to the ECHO show the vermin trapped on the sticky pads while twitching across the floor of the room. Serco says its teams responded rapidly and appropriately when addressing the issue.
In the months leading up to this Ann said her mental health was “completely disrupted” due to other aspects of disrepair with the property. She claimed there was only one socket in the bedroom to swap between internet, TV and phone chargers. In the living room, she claims only one socket also worked with an extension cord required to power a microwave, kettle and other household appliances.
She said there would be regular occasions where the electricity would ‘black out’ altogether. Serco says this was caused by faults with the RCD consumer unit in the property and that faults were addressed within their agreed timescales. They added faults with the sockets were not reported.
Ann said: “I spent two years of the pandemic like that [with the two sockets]. It was impossible to home school. Thank god the rats had not started coming by that time. You could not run the kettle, you could not run the heater, no hot water. Nothing.
“My daughter would have to go to school without breakfast, the whole night we went cold. During fasting for Ramadan, when waking up in the mid morning, the electricity went off. It would be completely dark and so we couldn't eat anything.”
She added: “That day I broke down. I could not carry on. You have some strength every day. But you don't have the same kind of strength every day."
After the ordeal began with the vermin, Ann said she could no longer stay in the flat. While support was offered by local organisations, Ann’s case was then escalated by Merseyside Law Centre following a referral.
Mr Kenny, a case worker at the law centre, told the ECHO the Centre arranged for an environmental health assessment to be carried out. But the vermin infestation became so severe to the point you couldn't “expect anyone to carry on living there”, he said.
The case was escalated through Serco's safeguarding referral pathway where it was agreed that Ann and her child would be moved to hotel accommodation in St Helens - 10 miles from where she was based. As her child’s school was local to the original home, she was require to make the long distance journey on a reduced budget.
In Ann's case, when Serco provide hotel accommodation, the £35 a week asylum support payments set out by the Home Office are reduced to £8 a week - as hotel accommodation can be classed as full board if they provide meals. But this, according to Mr Kenny, does not take into consideration things like children attending school and travel to and from school - in turn meaning some hotel meal times are missed due to travel.
Ann, who now has leave to remain in the UK, added: “I had to skip meals each day. Sometimes we were getting cold food. It was not a feasible standard of living. It was three or four weeks like that then they moved me to a different house which was much better.”
Serco says that prior to Ann moving into the original property, it was fully inspected by professional housing officers and it met all the standards required by the Home Office under its contract. Since then, the company says the property has been inspected monthly by Serco Housing Officers until Ann's departure. It adds that this is the case for all properties that Serco provides.
Mr Kenny said: “When you're already trying to navigate the asylum system which in itself is very tough, all you're asking for really is an habitable home for you and your children and to continue accessing the support networks in place.
“The Merseyside Law Centre has a good working relationship with Serco and they are cooperative. But another concern is around clients who might not know how to make those requests and the channels to go through to raise issues.
"That's something that we're here to support with. That can be informing clients how to access their rights and entitlements and pursue things through channels that are going to get them an outcome."
Mr Kenny added that as an organisation the Law Centre has to deal with “so many” disrepair enquiries from the private sector and also the social sector - but are limited due to strict legal aid merit and financial eligibility criteria. He said schemes like selective landlord licensing, which has just been reintroduced by the city council, is a positive and useful means of holding landlords to account to bring standards up.
When Ann's claims were put to Serco by the ECHO, Jenni Halliday, Serco AASC contract director said: “The safety and wellbeing of the asylum seekers in our care is always our priority. We are certain that the accommodation met all the required standards and that our team responded to any problems that were raised in a prompt and appropriate manner and we have done everything we can to support these asylum seekers.”
Responding to questions over how the Home Office checks accommodation provided by subcontractors is suitable, A Home Office spokesperson said: “On top of unprecedented existing pressures on the asylum system, the Covid-19 pandemic impacted the ability to inspect accommodation in the usual way.
“However, we still have robust systems to monitor and ensure that accommodation provided remains safe, comfortable and meets our standards of service. The Nationality and Borders Bill that we are introducing will deliver the most comprehensive reform in decades to fix the broken asylum system.”
