Thousands of asylum seekers to be moved out of hotels

• Government is working round the clock to significantly reduce the number of asylum seekers in hotels 
• New accommodation for asylum seekers includes two new vessels
• Use of single hotel rooms to be cut back

More than 5,000 asylum seekers will be accommodated on vessels and in alternative sites to drive down the cost of expensive hotels. 

The announcement is the latest step in the Government’s ongoing work to slash the number of hotels being used for asylum seekers, which currently costs the UK taxpayer £6million a day.  

The new sites include:

• The opening of large sites at Wethersfield and Scampton, with the first migrants moving in from this summer, with numbers on site rising to around 3,000 this autumn. In total, the sites will accommodate up to 3,700 asylum seekers.

• Two new vessels have been secured to provide 1,000 alternative bed spaces. Their location will be announced in the coming weeks. 

• A site in West London is already providing suitable accommodation to asylum seekers and the Home Office will expand the amount of beds even more by using a recently renovated large block. 

The first group of asylum seekers to be accommodated on a barge will move onto a vessel in Portland Port in the next few weeks, rising to a total of 500 migrants over time.  

The Government will also ensure asylum seekers are not routinely being given single hotel rooms at great expense to the taxpayer. Instead, asylum seekers will room-share across hotels, which will save £250 million a year and could reduce the need to source an additional 90 hotels.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said:  

“I have been clear that the unacceptable number of people making frankly illegal and dangerous crossings must stop. 

“That’s why we are taking immediate action to deliver alternative accommodation, bring down the asylum backlog and use new technology in Dover. 

“We will continue to crack down on the abuse of our asylum system, ultimately saving the British taxpayer money.” 

The announcement follows the Prime Minister’s update on how our work to stop the boats, one of his five priorities for the public, is working. Small boat arrivals are down 20 percent on this time last year and the asylum backlog of legacy cases has fallen by over 17,000 since December 2022.

The Small Boats Operational Command, set up in January, is also continuing its operations to build on this initial success and to ensure this trend continues ahead of what has previously been the busiest period of the year for crossings. 

The Prime Minister made clear that while progress is being made, there is still work to do and obstacles ahead of us. This is why we must keep using every tool at our disposal to stop the boats and why the Stop the Boats Bill must become law.

The Government is also stepping up efforts to reduce the number of foreign criminals allowed to stay in the UK while fighting deportation, resuming a policy that means their appeals against human rights claims can only be made or continued from outside the UK. The ‘deport first, appeal later’ policy will initially restart in five countries, with the Government working at pace to set up video rooms in 21 other countries which have consented to live link evidence. 

ENDS

Notes to editors:  

Accommodation:  

• The new sites at Scampton and Wethersfield will hold up to 2,000 and 1,700 migrants respectively.        
• The Government continues to source new alternative sites and vessels to accommodate migrants. Further announcements will be made later in the year. 
• The Government fully appreciates that these new alternative sites and vessels may impact local communities and public services. That is why the Government is committed to working in partnership with local communities, by establishing Multi-Agency Forums which bring together the local authorities, NHS, police and other public and voluntary sector organisations to assess any risks and develop mitigating solutions. The Government has made clear additional funding will be available to help mitigate impacts on the community or public services. 
• The Home Office will preserve the heritage features of Scampton, recognising the vital role it played in the Second World War. This includes not accommodating migrants in buildings from this period. The Home Office only intends to use Scampton on a temporary basis. 
• Work continues on other alternative sites, including Bexhill and Catterick. An update on these plans will be given in due course.  

Backlog: 

• The 74,410 initial asylum decisions figure relates to claims made before 28 June 2022. 
• We are taking immediate action to accelerate decision-making and rapidly speed up processing times so that people do not wait months or years in the backlog, at vast expense to the taxpayer. 
• We have doubled the number of caseworkers and will double that number again by autumn 2023. 

Deport Now, Appeal Later:  

• From today, the human rights claims of criminals from five countries – Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Nigeria and USA – whose claim is certified under section 94B of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 can be certified to give live-linked appeal evidence after their removal from the UK. 

Statistics:  

• Today, the Home Office has published an ad hoc statistics release on illegal migration: Statistics relating to the Illegal Migration Bill - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
• We have increased the number of illegal working raids across the UK by 50%, with arrests up 150%. 
• Albanian arrivals are down 90% and their asylum grant rate, including withdrawals, is down from 17% in 2022 to 2% from January to March 2023. In addition, around 1,800 Albanian illegal migrants and foreign criminals have been removed since 13 December 2022.

French interceptions: 

• Our new French deal prevented 33,000 illegal crossings in 2022, 40% more than the year before. In 2023 so far, more small boat migrants have been intercepted by France than have reached the UK’s shores. French interceptions this year are more than double what they were two years ago.