Just 48 migrants move out of costly hotels each week, bombshell report reveals, as Suella Braverman’s department set a target to locate 500 beds a week in cheaper accommodation
- The Home Office secured just 48 beds a week on average in the year to April
- The department set a target to find 500 beds a week in cheaper accommodation
The Home Office is finding just a few dozen beds a week to move asylum seekers out of hotels, a bombshell report has revealed.
Suella Braverman’s department set a target to locate 500 beds a week in cheaper accommodation – but secured just 48 beds a week on average in the year to April.
The report by spending watchdogs raised serious concerns over the Government’s ability to meet its pledges on tackling the asylum crisis. The National Audit Office said it was ‘unclear’ whether PM Rishi Sunak’s pledge to slash the backlog by December was ‘sustainable’.
‘Dispersal’ accommodation – such as self-catering flats – costs the taxpayer £14.41 a night on average, compared with £145 a night for an asylum hotel. The report, published today, also revealed the Home Office planned to have sent hundreds of asylum seekers to Rwanda or another safe country by now – but due to legal challenges the first flight has yet to take off.
Suella Braverman’s department set a target to locate 500 beds a week in cheaper accommodation. The Home Secretary is pictured at No 10, June 15
Currently, 45,000 migrants are in hotels at a cost of £6million a day. In September, the Home Office envisioned ending the use of hotels by December – but it has ‘since reduced its ambition’.
Amid a mountain of 173,000 asylum claims, the auditors revealed that in April this year only half of the Home Office’s 1,270 caseworkers were ‘deciding claims’ – the rest were still ‘in training’ or ‘absent’. In fact, just 140 were ‘fully trained and working independently’.
Mr Sunak pledged in December that 92,000 ‘legacy’ asylum claims lodged before June 28 last year would be ‘abolished’ by the end of this year. The backlog has fallen to 78,954, but the overall total is rising by the day.
The Home Office has set up a programme to reduce costs – but the NAO said the scheme is ‘not on track’. Meanwhile, it spent £3.6billion on asylum costs, including accommodation, last year – double the previous year’s sum.
A bombshell report has revealed the Home Office secured just 48 beds a week on average in the year to April. Pictured: The Comfort Inn hotel in Pimlico, London, where the Home Office reportedly asked a group of refugees to be accommodated four to a room, June 2, 2023
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘The Illegal Migration Bill will stop the boats by detaining those who come to the UK illegally, and swiftly returning them to their home country or a safe third country.’
n Manston asylum centre is ‘not ready’ to cope with huge numbers of summer Channel arrivals, a watchdog warned yesterday. David Neal, chief inspector for immigration, added: ‘Worryingly, I have received no clear answer… as to where the tens of thousands of migrants expected this year will be accommodated.’
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