Highlights:
- Home Affairs Committee report says flawed contracts led to billions wasted on asylum accommodation.
- Home Office costs for hotels tripled to over £15 billion.
- Around 32,000 asylum seekers currently housed in 210 hotels, costing £5.5 million daily.
- Government aims to end the use of asylum hotels by 2029.
THE HOME OFFICE has wasted billions of pounds on asylum accommodation due to flawed contracts and poor management, a report by the Home Affairs Committee has found.
The committee said the department’s “incompetent delivery” and reliance on hotels as “go-to solutions” had caused expected costs to triple to more than £15 billion, BBC reported.
The report said two accommodation providers still owed millions in excess profits that had not been recovered.
A Home Office spokesperson said the government was “furious about the number of illegal migrants in this country and in hotels”, adding that it aimed to end the use of asylum hotels by 2029.
About 32,000 asylum seekers are currently staying in 210 hotels, costing around £5.5 million a day.
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 said the Home Office had “neglected the day-to-day management of these contracts” and lacked the skills needed to manage them.
The report said decisions by the previous Conservative government, including delaying asylum decisions while pursuing the Rwanda scheme, had added to the crisis.
Housing Secretary Steve Reed said the previous government had “poured taxpayers’ money down the drain”.
The Home Office said it had already closed some hotels, reduced asylum costs by nearly £1 billion and was exploring the use of military bases and disused properties.
