Home Office squandered billions on asylum hotels, MPs say

According to a study by a committee of MPs, the Home Office has squandered billions of pounds in taxpayer funds on asylum accommodation. Flawed contracts and incompetent delivery left the department unable to cope with a surge in demand and depended on hotels as go-to solutions rather than temporary stop-gaps, according to the Home Affairs Committee. Expected costs have tripled to more than £15 billion, according to the MPs, but not enough has been done to recover excess income to recoup excess profits. The government was

furious about the number of illegal migrants in this country and hotels,

a Home Office spokesperson said, and that it had promised to stop using asylum hotels by 2029.

The government is housing just over 103,000 asylum seekers, of which only over 32,000, or around a third, are housed in 210 hotels. Asylum services are currently provided through a string of large-scale, regional agreements negotiated by the previous government with a number of private companies, which began in 2019 and will expire in 2029. They allow for the use of convenience accommodation - usually hotels - when demand exceeds supply, but they insist that this should only be used on a short-term basis. According to the study, the new scheme for housing people seeking asylum, with its reliance on hotels, was prohibitive, unpopular with local groups, and unsuitable for asylum seekers. According to the study, the contracts for accommodation providers under the Conservative Party had been flawed, and that inadequate oversight had resulted in mishaps, which had gone "unnoticed and unaddresse Hotel bills for 2019-2029 have risen from £4 to £4. 5bn to £15. According to the survey, three billion operators owe millions in excess revenues that the Home Office hasn't recovered. According to the study, the department mishandled the company's day-to-day administration of the contracts, and had not properly ordered financial penalties for providers with poor results. No fines were paid for hotel and major accommodation sites, but no such services were retained, while excess revenues from providers were yet to be recovered. The money should be used on public facilities, not sitting in the bank accounts of private companies, according to the committee. There are few topics that are more important for this government than the administration of the asylum system. Although ministers have set a deadline for ending the use of asylum hotels by the next general election, most likely 2029, they do want to show progress in lowering the numbers long before then. Labour ministers are particularly concerned about how hotels can become a point of dissent in various communities around the country. The Home Office's specific criticism is also the first indication of how many government scandals have arisen from the department, following controversies this week over the spying scandal, the demise of two men accused of espionage for China, and the return of a migrant deported to France under the 'one in one out' policy.

The Home Office has been forced to accommodate

a growing number of people for longer stretches of time

due to external causes, including the pandemic and the dramatic rise in small boat arrivals. MPs explained that the previous Conservative government's decision to delay asylum decisions as it pursued the initiative to deport migrants to Rwanda factored in. Although the report acknowledged the challenging environment in which the Home Office was operating, it also stated that

its tumultuous reaction revealed that it had not been up to the challenge.

We ended up with more people than there should be,

the committee's chair told BBC Radio 4's Today program, which means that the costs have absolutely rocketed.

The government has only recently started investigating back those earnings, as well as reviewing the accounts to see what is due to the taxpayer,Dame Karen said.Failures of leadership at a senior levelwere among the reasons why the Home Office wasincapable of grasping the facts.

Weglected the day-to-day administration of these jobs,

Dame Karen said, and the department has concentrated on short-term, reactive responses.The skills needed to handle these assignments were simply not present in the Home Office when they were drawn up,

she said. The previous administration was accused of

pouring taxpayer money down the drain,

according to Housing Secretary Steve Reed. Labour ministers were still looking at house asylum seekers on disused military bases, according to a leader who said

within weeks. Although the government was also considering longer-term rental accommodation choices, military sites were the most cost-effective option available to house asylum seekers, according to Mr. Since being opened under the Conservatives, two former military bases, MDP Wethersfield, a former military base in Essex, and Napier Barracks, formerly a military base, are now being used to house asylum seekers. Dame Karen applauded the government's promise to move away from asylum hotels and invest in larger facilities, such as military bases. However, she said that past failures, such as moving people into accommodation too quickly, must not be repeated. A Home Office spokesperson said in reaction to the study:

We've already taken action - closing hotels, slashing asylum costs by nearly £1 billion, and investigating the use of military bases and disused buildings.

Several protests and counter-protests over asylum hotels have took place across the United Kingdom this year, particularly in Epping over the summer after an asylum seeker being admitted to the Bell Hotel was charged with two sexual attacks.

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