A Southampton charity has helped 30 asylum seekers forced to wear a single outfit for weeks - but warned it was "running out of clothes faster than we can deliver them".

Southampton Action runs a weekly donation and sorting event to collect clothes for refugees and asylum seekers.

This week the group posted an emergency appeal for supplies on X, formerly known as Twitter, after the the charity found out that the city had 30 asylum seekers living in just one pair of clothes.

READ MORE: Southampton houses hundreds of Afghan and Ukrainian refugees

According to Nicola Walters, chairman and founder of Southampton Action, the group had also been travelling with no shoes for weeks prior to their arrival. 

The 38-year-old said: "They just want to be safe and feel heard.

"It's been an incredibly tough time for them and to have a change of clothes isn't much to ask."

Nicola added that many of the regugees had travelled from the Middle East to the UK - having gone through "unimaginable" experiences.

Nicola said: "Some of them are 16, I'm twice their age and I can't begin to think what they've gone through, it's unimaginable.

"Thankfully they're beginning to get more settled, learning English and taking part in activities with help from local charities."

She added: “Thanks to donations from people around the city we are now able to provide another set of clothes to each of the refugees.

“We can’t give them any shoes currently and are still in need of as much as we can get. We are running out of clothes faster than we can deliver them.”

Asylum seekers are only allowed to work when they are granted refugee status or if they have been waiting on their claim for at least 12 months through no fault of their own.

Until they can begin the search for employment, asylum seekers are expected to live on just £9 a week, Nicola said. 

“We work closely with the council who are doing their best to support the increased number of refugees in the city – it's never possible to do enough for people who literally have nothing."

But she said that this was a different picture where the Government was concerned.

According to Nicola and other charities, in July of this year, the Home Office changed the eviction notice period for refugees from 28 days to just seven days.

And Home Secretary Suella Braverman - MP for Fareham - made some incendiary comments in a controversial speech in Washington last week.

She suggested that being gay or a woman and being afraid of discrimination should not be enough to seek refuge in the UK.

Reacting to the comments, Nicola said: “What we can see from the Home Secretary’s recent comments and policies is that she is taking steps to undermine the refugee convention that was set up after the Second World War.

“This law was set up to keep people protected and I can’t see why we would not want to do that as a country.

“At least the council and charities in the city are doing the very best out of a terrible situation.

"I for one want to do all I can to help going forward, but it's a blancing act to look after yourself and other people's issues."

The Home Office says its eviction notice policy has not changed and asylum seekers remain "eligible for asylum support for a prescribed period from the day they are notified of the decision on their claim".

To donate clothes and shoes to Southampton Action, email them at information@southamptonaction.org