Home Office statement on Serco asylum accommodation list

A Home Office spokesperson said:

The list of local authorities Serco shared on its website for landlords is not a Home Office list, nor is it a list of any existing or future asylum accommodation.

Serco is one of several companies contracted by the previous government 6 years ago to provide dispersal asylum accommodation in different regions and this list simply appears to reflect the geographical list of local authorities covered by the Serco contracts at that time.

We are restoring order to the asylum system and cutting costs to taxpayers by reducing the number of people we are required to accommodate through a rapid increase in asylum decision-making and the removal of more than 24,000 people with no right to be in the UK.

Background information:

• we have no role in Serco communications and understand the page has now been removed

• the Home Office has a statutory obligation under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 to ensure asylum seekers are not left destitute while their claims are processed