Red Cross had to take £220,000 from disaster fund to clothe asylum seekers in UK

Fund is for UK and overseas emergencies but was used to help 12,000 people, some of whom had contracted scabies

The British Red Cross had to use hundreds of thousands of pounds from its disaster fund to provide basic clothing for asylum seekers in the UK in what it described as an unprecedented intervention.

The charity is the largest UK provider of services to refugees, asylum seekers and other vulnerable migrants. It said the decision to seek 220,000 from its disaster fund, which is earmarked for emergencies in the UK and overseas, was to buy items for 12,000 asylum seekers who were struggling to clothe themselves.