ACTION groups in Swindon and the South West have united to help the plight of asylum seekers in the UK.

More then 10 have been involved in pressing MPs and Home Secretary David Blunkett to change Government policy.

And even though the asylum seeker voucher system has been scrapped, there have been calls for more cash to support the new system.

The asylum seeker system paid people seeking sanctuary in this country weekly living expenses of just £36.54 which is 70 per cent of the basic income support level and supposed to cover everything from food and clothes to travel costs.

Bodies campaigning to scrap the system in favour of what they say would be a fairer, cash-based system, have included Oxfam, Swindon Transport and General Workers' Union, Refugee Action South West, Swindon Racial Equality Council and Swindon Christian Action for Racial Justice.

Sarah Jenkinson, asylum campaigner for Swindon, Oxfam South West, said: "Although the UK receives under one per cent of the world's refugees this £36.54 is exactly how thousands of vulnerable children, women and men are being forced to survive in the UK today, thanks to the asylum seekers voucher scheme."

Jaginder Bassi Singh, of Swindon Racial Equality Council, said: "Quite clearly the voucher was below the poverty line determined by the DSS and is not sufficient to maintain oneself. We need a fair system based on a general assessment of what is required and a bit more money."

Campaigners say the asylum seeker voucher scheme cost 3.5 times more, per person, to administer than benefits.

They also believe the system was a bureaucratic and expensive nightmare which imposed extreme hardship, stigma and humiliation on many vulnerable people.

The last asylum seeker vouchers will be issued in the autumn of 2002 and in future, asylum seekers will be issued with "smartcards" which record their photograph and finger-prints. Four accomm-odation centres are to be built holding 3,000 people in a £250m project.

They will have access to legal, health and education facilities at the centres but those rejecting a place will be disqualified from benefits or support.

Asylum seekers will now be tracked from the moment they enter the country, and new style reporting centres will be opened for them to check in at regular intervals.

The Home Secretary is publishing a white paper mapping out proposals in more detail.

A team was set up by Swindon Council last year to help the 120 people who have applied for asylum in Wiltshire in the last few years.