New Report Urges Government To Overhaul Asylum Seeker Accommodation System
Maidenhead Holiday Inn is one hotel which has been used by the government to house asylum seekers (Alamy)
5 min read
An influential left-leaning think tank has urged the Government to overhaul the provision of asylum seeker accommodation and give more powers to local bodies.
The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) published a report on Thursday which recommends decentralising the provision of accommodation and support for asylum seekers away from the Home Office.
Accommodation for asylum seekers in the UK is currently outsourced to three private companies: Clearsprings, Mears and Serco. These contracts will come to an end in 2029, with a break clause in 2026, but the IPPR report recommends the Government take “urgent” action to make regional and local bodies responsible for provision instead.
Dr Lucy Mort, senior research fellow at IPPR, told PoliticsHome that there would be “much better coordination” between those regional and local bodies than there is currently with the private providers and the Home Office.
“It's really high time that there was a fundamental shift in terms of how asylum accommodation is run,” she said.
“And it’s a really critical point to have this conversation because there’s this break clause in the current accommodation contract in 2026.
“We need to get moving, there needs to be a focus on this imminently, and it will require bolder action than maybe feels comfortable, but it is important.”
When in opposition in April last year, Labour pledged to eradicate the use of hotels for asylum seekers. However, last week Times Radio quoted government sources as saying ministers could reopen some migrant hotels which had been previously closed by the last Conservative government, in order to make more space for growing numbers.
Labour also tabled an amendment – which was not accepted – to the then-Conservative government’s Illegal Migration Bill in 2023, which would have put a duty on the home secretary to consult with local authorities when choosing areas for asylum seeker accommodation.
When PoliticsHome asked the Home Office in August this year whether the department would follow through on these plans now Labour was in office, a spokesperson said the Government was “determined to restore order to the asylum system so that it operates swiftly, firmly and fairly” – including looking at accommodation sites and reducing the use of hotels.
Two months later, PoliticsHome understands that the Home Office is actively considering decentralising some aspects of how the asylum seeker accommodation system works.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper (Alamy)
The IPPR has considerable influence on Government thinking and on the wider Labour movement. Five new MPs elected this year – Chris Murray, Luke Myer, Luke Murphy, Miatta Fahnbulleh and Josh Simons – previously worked at the IPPR, and another four — Sarah Smith, Yuan Yang, Kirsty McNeill and Hamish Falconer — had previously worked alongside the think tank.
Its recommendations could therefore help to shape how the Government approaches the issue of asylum seeker accommodation going forwards, including a suggestion that the Home Office should introduce a small number of pathfinder ‘regional asylum deals’ with individual Strategic Migration Partnerships (SMPs).
SMPs are funded by the Home Office but act as independent regional partnerships led by local authorities. The IPPR paper recommends that SMPs and the Home Office could work together with regional and local bodies to agree plans for the provision of asylum accommodation in each area.
New analysis in the report showed the average annual cost of housing and supporting one asylum seeker has soared from £17,000 in 2019/20 to £41,000 in 2023/24, and the overall cost of the system has risen from £739m in 2019/20 to an expected £4.7bn in 2023/24, with reliance on hotels making this system particularly expensive.
Mort said that the IPPR had spoken to stakeholders about concerns over whether local authority finances could cope with added responsibilities on asylum seeker accommodation, and argued that the change would have to “not just simply about shifting costs”.
“It should come with actual powers and control that allow local places to deliver a system that works for them, rather than this top down didactic approach that simply doesn't work in the same way in every place,” she said.
“We want to see more autonomy in how budgets are spent at a local level, so that solutions are tailored appropriately.”
The IPPR report included a number of other recommendations, including closing failing large sites and reviewing their use, involving people with lived experience of seeking asylum when designing services, addressing bottlenecks in the system, and improving safeguarding and support such as legal advice for asylum seekers.
The think tank also reported that many of those seeking asylum remained “trapped” in unsanitary, unsafe and cramped conditions, with one asylum seeker sharing that they stay in a room with three others with “no cleaning” and “no bedsheet”. Others told the IPPR they had suffered harassment from staff, isolation, and unsafe conditions for their children.
Muhammad, an asylum seeker, said: “Asylum accommodation should offer a pathway to safety and dignity, but instead, it traps people in unhealthy, unsafe conditions.
“We are not just statistics – we deserve homes that support our wellbeing, not spaces where we are left to deteriorate.”
The IPPR report has also been welcomed by some council leaders, including Leader of Brighton & Hove City Council, Cllr Bella Sankey, who said her council would “stand ready to work with the new government to pilot a reformed model and provide a system of wrap around support that enables successful move on and community cohesion”.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “This government inherited an asylum system under unprecedented strain, with thousands stuck in a backlog without their claims processed, housed in expensive accommodation.
“Many of the criticisms in this report apply to the policies of the previous government and the Home Office is now working at pace to deliver this Government’s agenda. While it will take time to restore order to the asylum system, we have put in place a serious and credible plan to bring down the backlog by restarting asylum processing and ramping up returns.”
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