Migrant hotels will be used for four more years despite pledge to close them down, Home Office admits

Home Office aiming for zero asylum hotels by ‘end of this parliament’ as work continues to clear claims backlog. Hotels will continue to be used to house asylum seekers for four more years, the Home Office’s top civil servant has estimated. Sir Matthew Rycroft, the Home Office’s permanent secretary, told MPs that the department’s aim was to “get to zero” asylum hotels being used by the end of this parliament, but that “ups and downs” might affect that promise.

Labour had pledged in their manifesto to “end asylum hotels, saving the taxpayer billions of pounds”, but they have opened several new hotels since taking office. Dame Angela Eagle, a Home Office minister, blamed the “unholy mess” of an asylum claims backlog left by the Conservatives for the new hotels opening. The number of hotels reached a peak of around 400 under the Tory government in August 2023, and had fallen to 213 by the time of the election last July. This had risen slightly to 220 by last October.

Speaking to MPs this month, Sir Matthew said: “Ministers will want to keep the committee and parliament updated on the total numbers, which have fallen from over 400 to 218, but I do not think you should expect a gradual decline of that number down to zero neatly by the end of this parliament. Our aim is to get to zero by the end of this parliament, but there will be ups and downs.”. The Home Office is aiming to save £300m this year and £400m next year by closing and reducing the costs of asylum hotels. But MPs on the Home Affairs Committee raised concerns that these savings would be made by passing costs on to councils instead, and not result in a net saving for the taxpayer.

Simon Ridley, the second permanent secretary at the department, admitted that closing hotels would impact on local authorities’ spend on temporary accommodation - which is provided for some homeless people including refugees. Mr Ridley said the Home Office was working closely with the Ministry for Local Government to assess “any potential increases in temporary accommodation”. Labour has ramped up efforts to clear the backlog of asylum cases that they inherited from the previous government, hoping that an increased number of decisions will reduce demand for Home Office hotels.

Sir Matthew explained the different parties’ approaches, saying: “The previous government had a policy of exiting hotels partly by acquiring some large and novel sites, such as barges, former military land and so on. The current government’s policy is also to exit hotels but to do it in a different way, with a large number of smaller sites. “Some of those will be acquired by the Home Office, but to the extent possible, we will be going more back into the private rental market, which is where we were before we got into hotels in the first place.”.