Asylum accommodation - including hotels - will cost the taxpayer £15billion over 10 years, spending watchdogs have revealed.
The overall bill is more than triple the Home Office's original estimate, data from the National Audit Office (NAO) showed.
Contracts were originally forecast to cost £4.5billion over a decade from 2019 but are now expected to run to £15.3billion over same period, after the Channel crisis exploded.
It means that on average the taxpayer will spend £4,191,780 a day on housing asylum seekers over the life of the contracts.
A separate breakdown from the NAO showed overall costs in 2024-25 were £1.67billion.
That amounted to £4,567,123 a day on average, or £3,172 a minute.
Asylum hotels 'may be more profitable' for companies holding the contracts than other types of housing, the government's official auditors said.
The Home Office awarded the 10-year contracts to three suppliers in 2019 – Clearsprings Ready Homes, Mears Group and Serco – which each operate two or three UK regions each.
They are responsible for finding a range of self-catering accommodation for asylum seekers who are dispersed across the country, and for sub-contracting hotels for tens of thousands of migrants coming across the Channel by small boat.
Plane rides back to their country can't be that expensive..
While the UK needs immigrants it doesn't need asylum seekers that are a drain..
In an interesting twist on our immigration front, Trump is not deporting nearly as many people as Biden did. Not because he's not trying, but because border crossings are way down..
Seems that one of the best deterents is a promise that you will be sent home if we catch you, so folks don't even try..
Anonymous said
May 7 6:11 PM, 2025
Digger wrote:
Asylum accommodation - including hotels - will cost the taxpayer £15billion over 10 years, spending
An obscene amount wasted that could have done a great deal towards, eg, helping to house the homeless (Brits homeless that is), much needed NHS nurses, helping to provide heating allowance to all Brit pensioners, supporting genuine Brit disabled.
But priorities eh.
Magica said
May 7 6:29 PM, 2025
How many more will pore in now India and Pakistan at war. They will use this as an excuse for claiming an asylum!
-- Edited by Magica on Thursday 8th of May 2025 05:37:13 PM
Syl said
May 8 11:48 AM, 2025
I wonder if the fighting will spill over here now.
In the past we have had trouble in our area between Pakistani and Indian families, they hate each other, but now the young men have matured, it's been peaceful.
Hopefully it'll stay that way.
Barksdale said
May 8 2:06 PM, 2025
Digger wrote:
Asylum accommodation - including hotels - will cost the taxpayer £15billion over 10 years, spending watchdogs have revealed.
If we take that as an average of 1.5bn a year that equates to about 0.1% of annual government spending - so in other words a miniscule amount.
As a result politicians don't really have an economic incentive to throw a lot of money at the issue as they know they can keep managing asylim at relatively low cost if they maintain the status quo. So, they will make noises about fixing the issue but won't really do anything about it.
Things might change however if the population insisted that asylum seekers be solely housed in very wealthy areas instead of ordinary communities around the country who bear the social cost of immigration policy. In general the British population are accommodating of foreigners but have an expectation that people play fairly by the rules and will accept policy as long as it seems to have a sense of justice behind it. Unfortunately politicians can exploit that sense of fairness or at least not pay attention to the issue because it is easier to ignore it. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
Incidentally this is part of the reason why I don't think much will change under a Reform government apart from some cultural issue window dressing. To improve living standards takes a lot of hard grind rather than slogans and in my opinion taking on the rich so that wealth flows around the economy freely rather than being hoarded. I don't see a bunch of posh boys cosplaying as working class heroes will do that.
Barksdale said
May 8 2:07 PM, 2025
Syl wrote:
I wonder if the fighting will spill over here now. In the past we have had trouble in our area between Pakistani and Indian families, they hate each other, but now the young men have matured, it's been peaceful. Hopefully it'll stay that way.
Oh lord, I remember at Uni that the Indian and Pakistani students always had some beef going on, especially when watching the cricket...
Red Okktober said
May 8 5:13 PM, 2025
Barksdale wrote:
If we take that as an average of 1.5bn a year that equates to about 0.1% of annual government spending - so in other words a miniscule amount.
0.1% is miniscule percentage but is far from a miniscule amount of cash money and shouldn't be written off as being trivial. Money that could be spent in better areas - winter fuel for example, or just go in the national piggy bank to go towards other things, lessen the need fot tax rises etc.
We can all agree that 2.3% is a very small percentage as well. That was the amount we spent on defence last year, and look at the sacrifices - taxes, public spending cuts etc that are having to be made to get it to 2.5%. That 0.1% spent on housing asylum seekers would come in very handy.
It's not just the bare cost of housing them either - there wil lbe a knock on financial effect of having all those extra people here - strain on an already creaky infrustrucure, NHS, policing etc - these things all cost money.
And what are we getting in return? Not a lot, unless social unrest and crime have suddenly become something to value. There is just as much chance of letting a rapist or a murderer in as there is a doctor or a lawyer. I dread to think how many petty criminals are being allowed to settle here. It's money down the toilet. And a lot of it.
Anonymous said
May 8 6:34 PM, 2025
Agree with Barksdale. I also don't understand why the distinct section of the working class who are troubled by immigration think millionaire (and apparent aqaintance of Trump ) cares about improving their everyday life. The right don't care about the poorer faction of society , just ensuring the rich and elite stay rich. Farage and Gove promised to give the NHS 2 million if the UK left the EU. Not only did this money never materalise but the economy crashed upon the results of the vote. Farage is not known for his honesty and the media constantly focusing on Reform give them a credibility they do not merit. This makes the political movement in many countries to the right just over immigration so troubling. Being paid a decent wage, improving schools and hospitals, ensuring you can put food on the table for your children. These are the things that SHOULD matter to those in poverty, not race hate and worshipping farage. and
Red Okktober said
May 8 7:31 PM, 2025
Anonymous wrote:
Agree with Barksdale. I also don't understand why the distinct section of the working class who are troubled by immigration think millionaire (and apparent aqaintance of Trump ) cares about improving their everyday life. The right don't care about the poorer faction of society , just ensuring the rich and elite stay rich. Farage and Gove promised to give the NHS 2 million if the UK left the EU. Not only did this money never materalise but the economy crashed upon the results of the vote. Farage is not known for his honesty and the media constantly focusing on Reform give them a credibility they do not merit. This makes the political movement in many countries to the right just over immigration so troubling. Being paid a decent wage, improving schools and hospitals, ensuring you can put food on the table for your children. These are the things that SHOULD matter to those in poverty, not race hate and worshipping farage. and
Being concerned about the current immigration problem is not race hate you darn fool.
Your attitude typifies why this problem has been allowed to escalate to where we are today.
Also, no one is 'worshipping' Farage - he is just a better option to what we currently have, that is all.
Syl said
May 8 7:31 PM, 2025
Immigration is a problem in the UK, you would have to be blind to deny it. Illegal immigration is a worse problem. We have borders for a reason, when people don't come in through the proper channels, they could be bringing God knows what sort of baggage with them...as is proven over and over again. Like Red said..."There is just as much chance of letting a rapist or a murderer in as there is a doctor or a lawyer."
No one is denying that we need conrolled immigration, and we have always welcomed it. We need people who can come here and benefit themselves and the country, the NHS would collapse without them. But we also need to concentrate on training our own instead of replacing them.
Magica said
May 8 7:52 PM, 2025
Syl wrote:
Immigration is a problem in the UK, you would have to be blind to deny it. Illegal immigration is a worse problem. We have borders for a reason, when people don't come in through the proper channels, they could be bringing God knows what sort of baggage with them...as is proven over and over again. Like Red said..."There is just as much chance of letting a rapist or a murderer in as there is a doctor or a lawyer."
No one is denying that we need conrolled immigration, and we have always welcomed it. We need people who can come here and benefit themselves and the country, the NHS would collapse without them. But we also need to concentrate on training our own instead of replacing them.
What you just said
Anonymous said
May 8 7:57 PM, 2025
Digger wrote:
Asylum accommodation - including hotels - will cost the taxpayer £15billion over 10 years, spending watchdogs have revealed.
A mere bagatelle, the sick and disabled Brits mainly will be paying for it…a fair swap eh, with change. Problem sorted.
Murderers are also born in the UK, they don't have to be imported. Yes uncontrolled immigration is an issue to be tackled of course, but why does it matter more than pensioners unable to heat their homes, the cost of living crisis, the increase in knife crime or schools literally falling apart? It seems strange how so many are fixated on immigration and nothing more, willing to make Farage PM when they don't know anything about his party members or any of their other policies. There is something not quite right about that. You don't know who someone is just because they were born british, they can be just as capable of crime as anyone else.
Digger said
May 8 9:38 PM, 2025
Barksdale wrote:
Digger wrote:
Asylum accommodation - including hotels - will cost the taxpayer £15billion over 10 years, spending watchdogs have revealed.
If we take that as an average of 1.5bn a year that equates to about 0.1% of annual government spending - so in other words a miniscule amount.
As a result politicians don't really have an economic incentive to throw a lot of money at the issue as they know they can keep managing asylim at relatively low cost if they maintain the status quo. So, they will make noises about fixing the issue but won't really do anything about it.
Things might change however if the population insisted that asylum seekers be solely housed in very wealthy areas instead of ordinary communities around the country who bear the social cost of immigration policy. In general the British population are accommodating of foreigners but have an expectation that people play fairly by the rules and will accept policy as long as it seems to have a sense of justice behind it. Unfortunately politicians can exploit that sense of fairness or at least not pay attention to the issue because it is easier to ignore it. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
Incidentally this is part of the reason why I don't think much will change under a Reform government apart from some cultural issue window dressing. To improve living standards takes a lot of hard grind rather than slogans and in my opinion taking on the rich so that wealth flows around the economy freely rather than being hoarded. I don't see a bunch of posh boys cosplaying as working class heroes will do that.
Miniscule? And yet Labour felt the need to demolish the winter fuel payment for pensioners.
Digger said
May 8 9:55 PM, 2025
Syl wrote:
Immigration is a problem in the UK, you would have to be blind to deny it. Illegal immigration is a worse problem. We have borders for a reason, when people don't come in through the proper channels, they could be bringing God knows what sort of baggage with them...as is proven over and over again. Like Red said..."There is just as much chance of letting a rapist or a murderer in as there is a doctor or a lawyer."
No one is denying that we need conrolled immigration, and we have always welcomed it. We need people who can come here and benefit themselves and the country, the NHS would collapse without them. But we also need to concentrate on training our own instead of replacing them.
Africa is the hub of HIV. The UK allow HIV positive migrant entry here. There are no restrictions on entry or stay based solely on HIV status, and people with HIV can access free treatment through the NHS, regardless of their immigration status.
In Africa, sexual violence is socially endorsed for maintaining patriarchal order. Men use rape to inscribe subordinate status on women. It's their normal.
More than 79 million girls and women, over 1 in 5, across sub-Saharan Africa have experienced rape or sexual assault before turning 18, a staggering reality revealed by UNICEF's latest estimates. Globally, an alarming 370 million girls and women have faced sexual violence, with the region bearing the highest number.
In 2023, a significant portion of new HIV diagnoses in the UK, including those previously diagnosed abroad, were among migrants. Specifically, 53% of diagnoses in England were reported as having been previously diagnosed abroad.This included a notable increase in diagnoses among women exposed through sex with men who were previously diagnosed abroad with three quarters of the people affected being from the African continent.
Is this acceptable?
Syl said
May 8 11:46 PM, 2025
Anonymous wrote:
Murderers are also born in the UK, they don't have to be imported. Yes uncontrolled immigration is an issue to be tackled of course, but why does it matter more than pensioners unable to heat their homes, the cost of living crisis, the increase in knife crime or schools literally falling apart? It seems strange how so many are fixated on immigration and nothing more, willing to make Farage PM when they don't know anything about his party members or any of their other policies. There is something not quite right about that. You don't know who someone is just because they were born british, they can be just as capable of crime as anyone else.
Yes you do know who someone is if they were born British....there are records from birth till death.
People coming here unrecorded, could be rapists, mass murderers, or just desperate to escape their old life...they could be anyone.
Anonymous said
May 9 2:16 AM, 2025
Yes you know their name and can put british murderers through the justice system. A victim remains deceased none the less. But the orignal point was "we could be letting murderers in aswell as doctors " so my point was people become murderers and doctors here. I think stating we don't always know the identity of immigrants is a valid concern without the need for suggesting they could be rapists. The tories let the backlog of those seeking asylum get absurdly out of hand and for that reason it will take a long time for info to be sought and people to be 'processed '. I'm not sure why individuals whose identity is legitimate cannot be allowed to work and contribute towards feeding their family. They want to pay taxes, not be a burden.
Maddog said
May 9 2:42 PM, 2025
Anonymous wrote:
Yes you know their name and can put british murderers through the justice system. A victim remains deceased none the less. But the orignal point was "we could be letting murderers in aswell as doctors " so my point was people become murderers and doctors here. I think stating we don't always know the identity of immigrants is a valid concern without the need for suggesting they could be rapists. The tories let the backlog of those seeking asylum get absurdly out of hand and for that reason it will take a long time for info to be sought and people to be 'processed '. I'm not sure why individuals whose identity is legitimate cannot be allowed to work and contribute towards feeding their family. They want to pay taxes, not be a burden.
You do have a weird system where even a legal immigrant can't work..At least for a period of time..
What is the thought behind that?
Barksdale said
May 9 4:57 PM, 2025
Maddog wrote:
You do have a weird system where even a legal immigrant can't work..At least for a period of time..
What is the thought behind that?
That's ayslum seekers. They cannot work while their asylum claim is pending, unless it goes over a 12 month period which they are waiting.
Legal immigrants are allowed to work unless they have specific visa restrictions.
Asylum accommodation - including hotels - will cost the taxpayer £15billion over 10 years, spending watchdogs have revealed.
The overall bill is more than triple the Home Office's original estimate, data from the National Audit Office (NAO) showed.
Contracts were originally forecast to cost £4.5billion over a decade from 2019 but are now expected to run to £15.3billion over same period, after the Channel crisis exploded.
It means that on average the taxpayer will spend £4,191,780 a day on housing asylum seekers over the life of the contracts.
A separate breakdown from the NAO showed overall costs in 2024-25 were £1.67billion.
That amounted to £4,567,123 a day on average, or £3,172 a minute.
Asylum hotels 'may be more profitable' for companies holding the contracts than other types of housing, the government's official auditors said.
The Home Office awarded the 10-year contracts to three suppliers in 2019 – Clearsprings Ready Homes, Mears Group and Serco – which each operate two or three UK regions each.
They are responsible for finding a range of self-catering accommodation for asylum seekers who are dispersed across the country, and for sub-contracting hotels for tens of thousands of migrants coming across the Channel by small boat.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/home-office-asylum-migrant-hotels-accommodation-b2746440.html
While the UK needs immigrants it doesn't need asylum seekers that are a drain..
In an interesting twist on our immigration front, Trump is not deporting nearly as many people as Biden did. Not because he's not trying, but because border crossings are way down..
Seems that one of the best deterents is a promise that you will be sent home if we catch you, so folks don't even try..
An obscene amount wasted that could have done a great deal towards, eg, helping to house the homeless (Brits homeless that is), much needed NHS nurses, helping to provide heating allowance to all Brit pensioners, supporting genuine Brit disabled.
But priorities eh.
How many more will pore in now India and Pakistan at war. They will use this as an excuse for claiming an asylum!
-- Edited by Magica on Thursday 8th of May 2025 05:37:13 PM
In the past we have had trouble in our area between Pakistani and Indian families, they hate each other, but now the young men have matured, it's been peaceful.
Hopefully it'll stay that way.
If we take that as an average of 1.5bn a year that equates to about 0.1% of annual government spending - so in other words a miniscule amount.
As a result politicians don't really have an economic incentive to throw a lot of money at the issue as they know they can keep managing asylim at relatively low cost if they maintain the status quo. So, they will make noises about fixing the issue but won't really do anything about it.
Things might change however if the population insisted that asylum seekers be solely housed in very wealthy areas instead of ordinary communities around the country who bear the social cost of immigration policy. In general the British population are accommodating of foreigners but have an expectation that people play fairly by the rules and will accept policy as long as it seems to have a sense of justice behind it. Unfortunately politicians can exploit that sense of fairness or at least not pay attention to the issue because it is easier to ignore it. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
Incidentally this is part of the reason why I don't think much will change under a Reform government apart from some cultural issue window dressing. To improve living standards takes a lot of hard grind rather than slogans and in my opinion taking on the rich so that wealth flows around the economy freely rather than being hoarded. I don't see a bunch of posh boys cosplaying as working class heroes will do that.
Oh lord, I remember at Uni that the Indian and Pakistani students always had some beef going on, especially when watching the cricket...
0.1% is miniscule percentage but is far from a miniscule amount of cash money and shouldn't be written off as being trivial. Money that could be spent in better areas - winter fuel for example, or just go in the national piggy bank to go towards other things, lessen the need fot tax rises etc.
We can all agree that 2.3% is a very small percentage as well. That was the amount we spent on defence last year, and look at the sacrifices - taxes, public spending cuts etc that are having to be made to get it to 2.5%. That 0.1% spent on housing asylum seekers would come in very handy.
It's not just the bare cost of housing them either - there wil lbe a knock on financial effect of having all those extra people here - strain on an already creaky infrustrucure, NHS, policing etc - these things all cost money.
And what are we getting in return? Not a lot, unless social unrest and crime have suddenly become something to value. There is just as much chance of letting a rapist or a murderer in as there is a doctor or a lawyer. I dread to think how many petty criminals are being allowed to settle here. It's money down the toilet. And a lot of it.
Being concerned about the current immigration problem is not race hate you darn fool.
Your attitude typifies why this problem has been allowed to escalate to where we are today.
Also, no one is 'worshipping' Farage - he is just a better option to what we currently have, that is all.
Immigration is a problem in the UK, you would have to be blind to deny it.
Illegal immigration is a worse problem. We have borders for a reason, when people don't come in through the proper channels, they could be bringing God knows what sort of baggage with them...as is proven over and over again.
Like Red said..."There is just as much chance of letting a rapist or a murderer in as there is a doctor or a lawyer."
No one is denying that we need conrolled immigration, and we have always welcomed it. We need people who can come here and benefit themselves and the country, the NHS would collapse without them.
But we also need to concentrate on training our own instead of replacing them.
What you just said
A mere bagatelle, the sick and disabled Brits mainly will be paying for it…a fair swap eh, with change. Problem sorted.
“The government has unveiled sweeping changes to the benefits system, aimed at saving £5bn a year by 2030.” https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c89y30nel59o
Miniscule? And yet Labour felt the need to demolish the winter fuel payment for pensioners.
Africa is the hub of HIV. The UK allow HIV positive migrant entry here. There are no restrictions on entry or stay based solely on HIV status, and people with HIV can access free treatment through the NHS, regardless of their immigration status.
In Africa, sexual violence is socially endorsed for maintaining patriarchal order. Men use rape to inscribe subordinate status on women. It's their normal.
More than 79 million girls and women, over 1 in 5, across sub-Saharan Africa have experienced rape or sexual assault before turning 18, a staggering reality revealed by UNICEF's latest estimates. Globally, an alarming 370 million girls and women have faced sexual violence, with the region bearing the highest number.
In 2023, a significant portion of new HIV diagnoses in the UK, including those previously diagnosed abroad, were among migrants. Specifically, 53% of diagnoses in England were reported as having been previously diagnosed abroad. This included a notable increase in diagnoses among women exposed through sex with men who were previously diagnosed abroad with three quarters of the people affected being from the African continent.
Is this acceptable?
Yes you do know who someone is if they were born British....there are records from birth till death.
People coming here unrecorded, could be rapists, mass murderers, or just desperate to escape their old life...they could be anyone.
You do have a weird system where even a legal immigrant can't work..At least for a period of time..
What is the thought behind that?
That's ayslum seekers. They cannot work while their asylum claim is pending, unless it goes over a 12 month period which they are waiting.
Legal immigrants are allowed to work unless they have specific visa restrictions.