Asylum seekers usually are not usually allowed to work within the first 12 months whereas they’re ready for his or her asylum declare to be processed and if they can’t safe their very own place to dwell, the Home Office is legally required to home them.
The use of hotels to accommodate asylum seekers elevated dramatically in 2020, pushed by a backlog in processing asylum claims and a scarcity of long-term housing.
Their use has proved controversial, triggering protests in native communities and authorized challenges from councils, in addition to issues over the price.
In 2024-2025, £2.1bn was spent on hotels and the earlier yr the determine stood at £3bn – or £8.3m per day.
According to the figures printed in December, there have been 103,426 individuals in asylum lodging, 30,657 of whom have been in hotels.
Around two-thirds are housed in “dispersal accommodation” which usually means homes in the neighborhood.
The subsequent official figures are due out in May however Norris stated he anticipated the extent of individuals in hotels to have fallen to under the extent of 29,585 when Labour got here to energy.
The quantity of individuals being housed in asylum hotels peaked at greater than 56,000 in 2023, beneath the Conservatives.
The numbers started to rise once more after Labour took energy however have since fallen.
The Labour authorities has promised to cease utilizing hotels to accommodate asylum seekers by July 2029.
It says ending lodging within the 11 hotels would save almost £65m a yr and that extra closures could be introduced within the coming weeks.
The hotels which were closed to asylum seekers are:
Banbury House Hotel – Banbury, Oxfordshire
Marine Court Hotel – Bangor, Ards and North Down
15 Citrus Hotel – Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
Holiday Inn Heathrow – Hillingdon, London
Britannia Hotel – Wolverhampton
Madeley Court Hotel – Madeley, Telford & Wrekin
OYO Lakeside – St Helens, Merseyside
Crewe Arms Hotel – Crewe, Cheshire East
Sure Hotel by Best Western – Aberdeen
The Rock Hotel – Halifax, Calderdale
Wool Merchant Hotel – Halifax, Calderdale
Announcing the closures, Norris stated ending resort lodging would cut back the quantity of individuals making an attempt to get to the UK by crossing the English Channel.
“We know the traffickers say ‘come to the UK, live in a hotel, work illegally’,” he stated.
“We’re changing that reality, we’re trying to reduce that pull factor.”
Following its election in July 2024, the federal government had promised to scale back small boat crossings by smashing the trafficking gangs nonetheless, numbers have remained excessive with 100,625 arriving in 2025.
