Asylum seekers to be moved from hotels to 'other accommodation'

The Immigration Minister's announced hotels across the UK will stop housing asylum seekers - as a result of a more than 20% drop in small boat crossing compared to last year.

The first 50 will stop housing asylum seekers by January 2024.

The Home Office has already notified local authorities, MPs and the accommodation providers, informing them that the first 50 hotels temporarily accommodating asylum seekers will be exited as part of the move to return hotels to their proper use by communities.

Initial efforts will focus on hotels that can be exited quickly. This announcement will help to relieve pressures on local services in the areas where exits are taking place, and provide a boost to the local economy.

These hotels will be gradually handed back to hoteliers by the end of January 2024, with the first of these expected to be exited in the coming days.

Asylum seekers currently accommodated in these hotels will be moving to other parts of the UK’s asylum estate, including the Bibby Stockholm barge.

Speaking in the Commons, Robert Jenrick said:

“Taxpayers cannot be expected to foot the eye-watering bill for the use of hotels to accommodate individuals making illegal, dangerous and wholly unnecessary small boat crossings.

“Our strategy to stop the boats is making progress. With small boat arrivals down more than 20 per cent compared with last year, we can now start to restore these hotels to their rightful use for local communities.

“We remain absolutely determined, through the implementation of the Illegal Migration Act and our Rwanda Partnership, to dismantle the smuggling gangs’ business models and stop the boats entirely.”

The move comes amid a decrease in small boat crossings, which are down by more than 20% compared to this point in 2022.

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