LONDON -- Asylum seekers in the UK are suffering from levels of poverty and hardships unacceptable in a civilized society, according to a joint report from Oxfam and the Refugee Council.

In a survey of 40 organizations working directly with refugees, 85 percent reported their clients experience hunger.

Some 95 percent said that refugees cannot afford to buy clothes or shoes, 80 percent were unable to maintain good health, IRNA reported.

Chief Executive of the Refugee Council Nick Hardwick said that Britain's asylum support system was institutionalizing poverty. "What is at stake is that people are being hurt by this system," he said in a statement.

The report found that the system was badly designed and poorly run and recommended that support -- in cash and kind -- should be made to refugees independently of scrutiny by the social service committee.