Government considers £100 weekly payments to move asylum seekers out of hotels

Highlights

• Asylum seekers could receive £100 per week on top of existing £49.18 support to leave hotels.
• Currently over 32,000 migrants housed in 200 hotels costing £145 per night or £5.5 m daily.
• Separate scheme offers up to £3,000 to asylum seekers willing to return to home countries.

The government is considering paying asylum seekers £100 a week to leave taxpayer-funded hotels and live with family or friends in the UK. Home Office officials have proposed the scheme as part of prime minister Keir Starmer's drive to accelerate the closure of asylum hotels. The weekly payment would come on top of the existing £49.18 support for living costs that migrants in hotels currently receive. The plan, set to be trialled in 2026, could reduce accommodation costs to a seventh of current spending. More than 32,000 migrants are currently housed in 200 hotels at an average cost of £145 per night or £1,015 a week. This compares with £23.25 a night for other dispersal accommodation in communities. The total bill for asylum hotels stands at £5.5 m a day, or £2.1 bn a year. Labour has pledged to stop their use by the end of this term in 2029, though suggestions indicate Starmer has privately set a one-year target.

The government has earmarked two former military barracks in Inverness, Scotland, and Crowborough, East Sussex, to house 900 migrants from the end of November as part of the hotel closure plan.

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Returns incentive scheme

Home Office officials are offering up to £3,000 to asylum seekers from countries whose applications are routinely rejected. Migrants willing to abandon their asylum claims can access this support through a voluntary returns scheme to help "find somewhere to live, find a job or start a business" in their home country.

Nationalities being targeted include Albanians, Bangladeshis, Brazilians, Chinese, Indians, Nigerians and Pakistanis.

Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, condemned the moves. "The idea of handing out taxpayers' hard-earned money to people who illegally entered the country is morally repugnant, "he told The Telegraph.

A Home Office spokesman responded: "The government is furious about the number of illegal migrants in this country and in hotels. That is why we will close every single asylum hotel." A major overhaul of the asylum system will be announced later this month by home secretary Shabana Mahmood.