On 20 January 2025, the House of Lords is scheduled to consider the following question for short debate: 

Lord Davies of Gower (Conservative) to ask His Majesty’s Government when they intend to cease using hotels to house asylum seekers. 

1. Accommodation support provided to asylum seekers

Under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, the home secretary is required to provide accommodation and subsistence support to all destitute asylum seekers whilst their asylum claims are being decided. A person is destitute if they do not have adequate accommodation or any means of obtaining it, or if they have adequate accommodation or the means of obtaining it but cannot meet their other essential living needs.[1] 

The 1999 act gives powers to the home secretary to provide accommodation and subsistence support at different stages of the asylum process. Support under section 95 is provided to people waiting for a decision on their asylum claim or appeal.[2] Section 98 support is provided while a person’s eligibility for section 95 asylum support is being considered.[3] 

Asylum seekers are provided with different types of accommodation depending on what stage their immigration case has reached: 

  • Initial accommodation: used to accommodate people on section 98 support, while their application for longer-term accommodation and subsistence is decided. It is also used to house asylum seekers waiting to move to longer-term accommodation. Initial accommodation is normally full-board hostel style residences.
  • Dispersal accommodation: once a person has been granted asylum support under section 95, they are eligible for longer-term housing, also called ‘dispersal’ accommodation, until shortly after they receive a final decision on their asylum claim. This is normally provided as private dwellings in local communities. The dispersal policy was introduced under the 1999 act.[4] Under this system, asylum seekers are offered accommodation on a ‘no-choice basis’ across the UK. The intention is to distribute supported asylum seekers around the UK. 

In recent years, there has been an increase in the use of ‘contingency’ asylum accommodation because of the limited availability of initial and dispersal accommodation.[5] It has mostly been provided in the form of hotel rooms, procured for the use of asylum accommodation. The Home Office has also set up large-scale accommodation facilities on self-contained sites, such as the Napier barracks in Kent.[6]

The Home Office has used contingency accommodation to ensure it met its statutory obligations to provide accommodation and subsistence support to all destitute asylum seekers while their applications were being decided.[7] 

Sections 2 and 3 of this briefing focus on the use of hotels as contingency asylum accommodation. Further information on the use of vessels and large-scale sites can be found in the following House of Commons Library briefings: 

2. Increased use of hotels to accommodate asylum seekers

Since around 2020, there has been a marked increase in the use of hotels for contingency asylum accommodation. The cause of this has been attributed to several factors including:[8]

  • impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and public health measures 
  • increase in the number of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats  
  • backlog in unresolved asylum cases

During the Covid-19 pandemic, public health and social distancing guidelines and a temporary cessation of ending asylum support for those whose claims had been granted or refused led to the number of people within the asylum system rising.[9] On 27 March 2020, Chris Philp, the then minister for immigration compliance and the courts, informed all local authorities that he had authorised the procurement of contingency accommodation to help address the issue.[10]

In 2020, the number of asylum seekers housed in hotels increased. At the end of March 2020 there were around 1,200 accommodated in hotels.[11] This number increased to around 4,400 in June, 8,000 towards the end of August and approximately 9,500 in October.[12] In October 2020, Mr Philp stressed to Parliament that people in contingency accommodation, including those in hotels, would be moved into dispersal accommodation as “soon as reasonably practical”.[13]

However, the number of asylum seekers accommodated in hotels has continued to remain high compared to the numbers in March 2020. This is illustrated by figures published by the Home Office on the number of asylum seekers being accommodated in hotels since March 2023.

Table 1. Number of people receiving asylum support accommodated in hotels between March 2023 and September 2024

Number of people in contingency accommodation: Hotels Number of people in contingency accommodation: Other Total number of people in receipt of asylum support % of people in receipt of asylum support accommodated in hotels
31 March 2023 47,518 2,088 112,294 42
30 June 2023 50,546 2,113 117,450 43
30 September 2023 56,042 2,427 123,758 45
31 December 2023 45,768 2,010 111,132 41
31 March 2024 34,530 2,642 104,299 33
30 June 2024 29,585 2,458 100,995 29
30 September 2024 35,651 2,729 109,024 33

(Home Office, ‘Immigration statistics: Asylum seekers in receipt of support detailed datasets, year ending September 2024, 28 November 2024, table Asy_DO9) 

Notes: 

  1. ‘Total number of people in receipt of asylum support’ includes people in contingency accommodation; people in initial and dispersal accommodation; other accommodation procured as an alternative to the use of hotels; and those in receipt of subsistence only support.
  2. The number of people in receipt of support changes daily. The numbers reported represent the total population at period end and does not represent all individuals who have been in receipt of support during the period.

Further statistics on asylum seekers in the UK can be found in the House of Commons Library briefing ‘Asylum seekers’ (20 December 2024). 

3. Government policies to end the use of hotels to house asylum seekers

Although the number of asylum seekers housed in hotels has remained high, it has been the policy of successive governments to reduce the number of those in contingency accommodation. This section will summarise the approach of the Conservative governments since 2020 and the policies outlined by the Labour government that came into power following the general election in July 2024. Detailed examination of these policies, commentary on the measures and analysis of the continued pressure on availability of asylum accommodation can be found in the following House of Commons Library briefings:

3.1 Policies under Conservative governments between 2020 and 2024

The Conservative government under Boris Johnson made clear in 2020 that the reliance on contingency hotel accommodation was intended to be a short-term measure. For instance, in October 2020 in evidence to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, Home Office officials said that while there was no target date to end the use of hotels, it was intended to be a temporary approach to “to take account of the surge in demand”.[14]  

This continued to be the policy of Rishi Sunak’s government. In December 2022, in a statement to the House of Commons on illegal migration, Mr Sunak argued that the use of hotels “must end”.[15] In October 2023, the government said it had identified 50 hotels it would stop using by January 2024.[16] 

Successive Conservative governments linked the pressures on availability within the accommodation estate to issues within the wider UK asylum system.[17] Their approach to ending the reliance on contingency hotel accommodation focused on policies and legislation intended to increase the supply of initial and dispersal accommodation and to bring in broader reforms to the system.

Measures intended to increase the availability of accommodation included:

  • Full dispersal model: Prior to 2022, local authorities (LAs) could choose whether to accept dispersal accommodation within their area. In April 2022, the Home Office announced plans to implement a ‘full dispersal model’ to support its attempt to end the use of contingency hotel accommodation.[18] As a result, all LA areas were to become asylum dispersal areas. Under the model, the allocation of asylum seekers was to be proportionate to the population size of the area. The plans went live in March 2023.[19] The strategy aimed for an equitable distribution of asylum seekers by region, relative to the size of their general populations, by 2029.[20] In April 2022, 196 local authorities (52%) did not have any people seeking asylum staying in dispersal accommodation in their area. This number had reduced to 110 local authorities (30%) in December 2023.[21] 
  • Developing new large-scale accommodation facilities on land and in moored vessels: The government procured sites such as RAF Wethersfield in Essex and the Bibby Stockholm vessel moored in Portland Port, Dorset.[22] 
  • Requiring some unrelated same-sex asylum seekers to share hotel rooms: In June 2023, the government announced that it would “ensure asylum seekers are not routinely being given single hotel rooms at great expense to the taxpayer”.[23] Rishi Sunak said that by asking people to share rooms, where appropriate, the government had found “an additional 11,500 places which will save taxpayers an extra £250mn a year”.[24] The government said that this approach “could reduce the need to source an additional 90 hotels”.[25]

Legislative changes intended to reform the wider asylum system included:

  • Nationality and Borders Act 2022: The Home Office launched the ‘New plan for immigration’ in March 2021 and set out a new framework for asylum decision-making, including treating people seeking asylum differently depending on how and when they arrived in the UK.[26] This became law in 2022 through the Nationality and Borders Act 2022. Under the act, the Home Office would treat claims as ‘inadmissible’ if a person seeking asylum was previously present in, or had a connection to, a third country the Home Office considered safe.  
  • Illegal Migration Act 2023: The act changed the law to allow the detention and removal of those arriving to the UK via routes deemed to be illegal. Under the act, individuals would be detained and then removed, either to their home country or a safe third country.[27]

Further information on the Conservative government’s wider policies on the asylum system and illegal migration since 2020 can be found in:

The National Audit Office (NAO) examined the government’s approach to reducing the use of contingency hotel accommodation in its 2023 report ‘The asylum and protection transformation programme’ and its 2024 report ‘Investigation into asylum accommodation’. The reports found:

  • The Home Office spent approximately £3.6bn on asylum support costs in 2022–23, nearly double the amount in 2021–22.[28] In 2023–24 the government expected to spend £4.7bn on asylum support.[29] 
  • In 2022–23, the Home Office spent about £2.28bn on hotels.[30] In 2023–24 the government expected to spend £3.1bn.[31] 
  • By the end of January 2024, the Home Office had stopped using 60 of the approximately 400 hotels it was using to accommodate people in October 2023.[32] 
  • The Home Office analysis suggested that large sites accommodation could cost £46mn more than the equivalent cost of hotels over the life of the large sites. The Home Office expected to spend £230mn on its large sites accommodation programme by end March 2024.[33]

In its 2024 report, the NAO concluded that the government had made progress in its plans to reduce the use of hotels to accommodate asylum seekers. However, it argued that:

[…] in rapidly progressing its plans to establish large sites, it has incurred nugatory spending and increased risk. The site at [the former RAF base] Scampton is yet to open, and Wethersfield and the Bibby Stockholm are accommodating far fewer people than originally planned. It appears inevitable that, collectively, these early sites will now cost more than the alternative of using hotels.[34]

3.2 Labour government policies since July 2024

In its 2024 general election manifesto the Labour Party made a commitment to “hire additional caseworkers to clear the Conservatives’ backlog and end asylum hotels”.[35]

During a debate in November 2024 on the issue of using hotels to house asylum seekers, the minister for border security and asylum, Angela Eagle, said:

We remain absolutely committed to ending the use of hotels for asylum seekers and continue to identify a range of accommodation options to minimise the use of hotels and ensure better use of public money, while maintaining sufficient accommodation to meet demand.[36]

On the number of hotels being used at that time, Angela Eagle said that there were 220 hotels in use.[37] The minister said that there had been 213 hotels used to accommodate asylum seekers in July 2024. However, since that time, seven hotels had been shut and 14 opened, “which has created a net increase of seven”. During the debate, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp contended the government was “doing the precise opposite to what it promised in its manifesto”.[38] He argued that under the previous Conservative government, hotels were being closed down.

Since it came into government in July 2024, Labour has made several announcements on its approach to the use of large sites asylum accommodation. For instance, in a statement on irregular migration in September 2024, Angela Eagle said:

The government’s intention is to return to using long-standing dispersed asylum accommodation and will do so as soon as is practicable, once we have made progress on clearing the backlog. Any decision regarding the use of accommodation sites will be fully considered, with a firm focus on value for money and ensuring proper standards are in place.[39]

The government has also announced its plans to stop using some of the sites developed under the previous government. For instance, in July 2024, the government announced that the contract for the Bibby Stockholm barge would not be renewed past January 2025.[40] In September 2024 it said RAF Scampton would not be used as an accommodation site.[41] 


Cover image from Unsplash. 

References

  1. Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, s 95(3); and SI 2000/704, reg 8, 9. Return to text
  2. Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, s 95. Return to text
  3. Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, s 98. Return to text
  4. Home Office, ‘Funding instruction for local authorities: Asylum dispersal grant 2022–2023’, 6 September 2022. Return to text
  5. Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, ‘An inspection of contingency asylum accommodation: November 2023–June 2024’, October 2024, p 4. Return to text
  6. The Home Office has permission to use the site to house asylum seekers until 2026. Return to text
  7. Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, ‘An inspection of contingency asylum accommodation: May 2021–November 2021’, May 2022 p 6. Return to text
  8. House of Commons, ‘Written question: Asylum: Hotels (11671)’, 8 June 2022; Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, ‘An inspection of contingency asylum accommodation: November 2023–June 2024’, October 2024, p 4; and HC Hansard, 5 June 2023, col 567. Return to text
  9. Home Office, ‘Factsheet: The use of temporary hotels to house asylum seekers during Covid-19’, 8 August 2020. Return to text
  10. Home Office, ‘Letter from Chris Philp to local authority chief executives’, 27 March 2020. Return to text
  11. House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, ‘Letter from the permanent secretary for the Home Office to the chair of the Public Accounts Committee’, 4 September 2020. Return to text
  12. As above; House of Commons, ‘Written question: Asylum: Glasgow (74659)’, 21 July 2020; and House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, ‘Oral evidence: Asylum accommodation and support transformation programme’, 1 October 2020, HC 683 of session 2019–21, Q22–5. Return to text
  13. House of Commons, ‘Written question: Asylum: Hotels (89730)’, 12 October 2020. Return to text
  14. House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, ‘Oral evidence: Asylum accommodation and support transformation programme’, 1 October 2020, HC 683 of session 2019–21, Q111. Return to text
  15. HC Hansard, 13 December 2022, col 886. Return to text
  16. Home Office, ‘Home Office to exit first 50 asylum hotels by the end of January’, 24 October 2023. Return to text
  17. For example: HC Hansard, 29 March 2023, cols 1017–18. Return to text
  18. House of Commons, ‘Written question: Asylum: Hotels (11671)’, 8 June 2022. Return to text
  19. London Councils, ‘Member briefing: Asylum dispersal’, 23 March 2023. Return to text
  20. National Audit Office, ‘The asylum and protection transformation programme’, 16 June 2023, HC 1375 of session 2022–23, p 42. Return to text
  21. National Audit Office, ‘Investigation into asylum accommodation’, 20 March 2024, HC 635 of session 2023–24, p 19. Return to text
  22. Home Office, ‘Thousands of asylum seekers to be moved out of hotels’, 5 June 2023. Return to text
  23. As above. Return to text
  24. Prime Minister’s Office, ‘PM statement on illegal migration delivery update, 5 June 2023. Return to text
  25. Home Office, ‘Thousands of asylum seekers to be moved out of hotels’, 5 June 2023. Return to text
  26. National Audit Office, ‘The asylum and protection transformation programme’, 16 June 2023, HC 1375 of session 2022–23, p 6. Return to text
  27. Home Office, ‘Illegal Migration Act 2023’, updated 22 April 2024. Return to text
  28. National Audit Office, ‘The asylum and protection transformation programme’, 16 June 2023, HC 1375 of session 2022–23, p 5. Return to text
  29. National Audit Office, ‘Investigation into asylum accommodation’, 20 March 2024, HC 635 of session 2023–24, p 5. Return to text
  30. National Audit Office, ‘The asylum and protection transformation programme’, 16 June 2023, HC 1375 of session 2022–23, p 5. Return to text
  31. National Audit Office, ‘Investigation into asylum accommodation’, 20 March 2024, HC 635 of session 2023–24, p 4. Return to text
  32. As above. Return to text
  33. As above. Return to text
  34. As above, p 11. Return to text
  35. Labour Party, ‘Labour Party manifesto 2024’, June 2024, large print version, p 16. Return to text
  36. HC Hansard, 20 November 2024, col 276. Return to text
  37. HC Hansard, 20 November 2024, col 277. Return to text
  38. HC Hansard, 20 November 2024, col 278. Return to text
  39. House of Commons, ‘Written statement: Border security and asylum (HCWS73)’, 5 September 2024. Return to text
  40. Home Office, ‘Contract for Bibby Stockholm not renewed past January 2025’, 23 July 2024. Return to text
  41. House of Commons, ‘Written statement: Border security and asylum (HCWS73)’, 5 September 2024. Return to text