UK: MPs accuse Home Office of wasting billions on asylum seeker hotels

The United Kingdom Home Office has been accused by multiple Parliamentary’s of wasting billions of pounds on asylum accommodation, with a new report from the Home Affairs Committee highlighting failures in contract management and oversight.

The committee said poor planning and “flawed contracts” led to the department relying heavily on asylum seeker hotels as a “go-to solution” instead of using them temporarily. 

Costs for asylum accommodation have risen sharply, from an expected £4.5 billion to £15asyl.3 billion, while some private providers still owe millions in excess profits that have not been recovered.

A Home Office spokesperson said the government was “furious about the number of illegal migrants in this country and in hotels” and reaffirmed its commitment to end the use of asylum hotels by 2029.

Currently, around 103,000 asylum seekers are being housed by the government, with about a third 32,000 people accommodated in 210 hotels across the UK. The system, managed under large regional contracts first agreed in 2019, allows for “contingency accommodation” when demand exceeds supply. However, MPs said hotels were never meant to become a long-term option.

The report described the arrangement as expensive, unpopular, and unsuitable for both local communities and asylum seekers. It found that the Home Office had failed to enforce financial penalties on poorly performing contractors and neglected routine management of the accommodation system.

The committee said, “The money should be used on public services, not sitting in the bank accounts of private businesses.”

Committee chair Dame Karen Bradley told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We just ended up with more people than the contracts ever thought there could be and that’s meant that the costs have absolutely rocketed.” She added that the government had only recently begun auditing provider accounts to reclaim profits owed to taxpayers.

The report also blamed “failures of leadership at a senior level” for the department’s inability to control costs, saying the Home Office had focused on “short-term, reactive responses” rather than long-term management.

Housing Secretary Steve Reed accused the previous government of “pouring taxpayers’ money down the drain.” He said Labour ministers were assessing new accommodation options, including disused military bases, as “the least expensive option available” for housing asylum seekers.

Two such sites MDP Wethersfield in Essex and Napier Barracks in Kent are already being used. Dame Karen welcomed plans to move away from hotel use but warned that past mistakes, such as relocating people too quickly, must not be repeated.

The Home Office said it had “already taken action closing hotels, slashing asylum costs by nearly £1bn and exploring the use of military bases and disused properties.”

Protests and counter-protests around asylum seeker hotels have taken place across the UK this year, including one in Epping, following an alleged assault involving an asylum seeker at The Bell Hotel.

(BBC)

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