It’s been a year since my Home Office asylum interview. I’m not allowed to work so I’m studying | Paul

With a baby on the way I want to be the best father I can be, but until my claim is decided I can’t find employment

• This article is part of the heat or eat diaries: a series from the frontline of Britain’s cost of living emergency

Last month, my wife and I learned that we are having a baby boy. I feel really glad, so grateful, but at the same time, I want everything for him. It’s been more than a year since my interview with the Home Office and I have heard nothing: I still don’t know if we will have permission to remain in the UK. It’s frustrating when you have presented so much evidence, so many documents, and you know they have all the information to make a decision. Until they do, though, I don’t have permission to work – and we are still living off the £80 a week we receive in asylum support.

Now that we have a new prime minister, we’re watching the news, reading up on the new cabinet, looking at any speeches that could show what their policies towards asylum seekers may be. Will the new government make the processes faster or slower? We’re dependent on them for access to the NHS, to accommodation, for our son’s education and healthcare, for everything.

As told to Anna Moore. Paul is in his 30s and is an asylum seeker living in the north of England. Names have been changed

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