Recommendations & Conclusions
12 items
11
Conclusion
4th Report – The Home Office's manageme…
Acknowledged
The failings in the current performance management regime mean that the Home Office is not able to properly hold its providers to account. The Home Office has had more than enough time to identify and address the deficiencies in the current Key Performance Indicator framework. Given the increased public prominence …
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The failings in the current performance management regime mean that the Home Office is not able to properly hold its providers to account. The Home Office has had more than enough time to identify and address the deficiencies in the current Key Performance Indicator framework. Given the increased public prominence and growth in the cost of asylum accommodation, it is unacceptable that the performance management regime remains under review, with no substantive changes, more than two years after the Independent Commission for Aid Impact identified shortcomings in the regime. (Conclusion, Paragraph 57)
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Government response AI summary
The government outlined Migrant Help's contractual responsibilities and performance standards under the AIRE contract, noting ongoing improvements but also stating the Home Office is currently reviewing performance frameworks and contract scope. It reserves the right to consider alternative providers if standards are not met.
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Home Office
12
Recommendation
4th Report – The Home Office's manageme…
Acknowledged
The Home Office should, as a matter of urgency, agree new KPIs with contract providers. In future the KPI regime should be reviewed regularly to ensure that it remains appropriate and relevant. (Recommendation, Paragraph 58) Oversight of subcontractors
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The Home Office should, as a matter of urgency, agree new KPIs with contract providers. In future the KPI regime should be reviewed regularly to ensure that it remains appropriate and relevant. (Recommendation, Paragraph 58) Oversight of subcontractors
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Government response AI summary
The government responded by outlining the complexities of the current AIRE service delivery model and stating it is currently reviewing performance frameworks and contract scope, as well as examining alternative approaches for future AIRE service provision. It did not commit to urgently agreeing new Key …
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Home Office
13
Conclusion
4th Report – The Home Office's manageme…
Acknowledged
Stay Belvedere Hotels Ltd was operating as a major subcontractor from 2019 onwards, but the Home Office only became aware of issues with the company within the last year. It was only after these issues came to light that the Home Office identified that Clearsprings had not been providing an …
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Stay Belvedere Hotels Ltd was operating as a major subcontractor from 2019 onwards, but the Home Office only became aware of issues with the company within the last year. It was only after these issues came to light that the Home Office identified that Clearsprings had not been providing an appropriate level of information about their major subcontractors. We have seen no evidence that the Home Office has maintained adequate oversight of subcontracting arrangements. (Conclusion, Paragraph 64)
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Government response AI summary
The Home Office updated its Safeguarding Framework in August 2025 and established a new Safeguarding and Public Protection Programme. However, it states that specific contractual performance measures and wider auditing for subcontractors are outside the current scope of work and remain under review for future …
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Home Office
20
Conclusion
4th Report – The Home Office's manageme…
Acknowledged
Long stays in inappropriate hotels are often deeply harmful to the people accommodated there. Local services are left to respond to these impacts and fill the gaps where the basic needs of asylum seekers are not being met. The use of hotels has at times had a significant impact on …
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Long stays in inappropriate hotels are often deeply harmful to the people accommodated there. Local services are left to respond to these impacts and fill the gaps where the basic needs of asylum seekers are not being met. The use of hotels has at times had a significant impact on community cohesion, which cannot be underestimated. The closure of hotels should therefore help reduce the number of cases where asylum seekers are placed in inappropriate accommodation, and ease local tensions. (Conclusion, Paragraph 88)
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Government response AI summary
The government reiterates its commitment to closing asylum hotels by the end of Parliament, noting progress in reducing numbers and detailing its managed plan to coordinate closures with local authorities while exploring alternative large sites.
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Home Office
31
Conclusion
4th Report – The Home Office's manageme…
Acknowledged
There are significant failings in the current processes for making initial decisions about age and unreliable decisions are still leading to children being incorrectly placed in adult accommodation. We do not have confidence that the arrangements for accommodation providers to identify and refer age dispute cases to the relevant local …
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There are significant failings in the current processes for making initial decisions about age and unreliable decisions are still leading to children being incorrectly placed in adult accommodation. We do not have confidence that the arrangements for accommodation providers to identify and refer age dispute cases to the relevant local authority are consistently working as they should. This risks children being incorrectly accommodated in the adult asylum system, often in a shared room. This is a serious safeguarding issue. We welcome the department’s acceptance of the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration’s recommendations to improve its age assessment processes. (Conclusion, Paragraph 128)
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Government response AI summary
The Home Office has closed emergency UASC hotels, provided incentivised funding to local authorities, and committed to strengthening age assessment processes through an Immigration White Paper and trials of AI technology. They also use safeguarding audits and contractual levers to monitor provider compliance.
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Home Office
35
Conclusion
4th Report – The Home Office's manageme…
Acknowledged
The Home Office has failed to achieve its targets for an equitable distribution of asylum seekers. Asylum accommodation is still heavily concentrated in particular areas, often areas of high deprivation. Many local authorities do not have faith that the department will achieve a fair and equitable distribution of accommodation. The …
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The Home Office has failed to achieve its targets for an equitable distribution of asylum seekers. Asylum accommodation is still heavily concentrated in particular areas, often areas of high deprivation. Many local authorities do not have faith that the department will achieve a fair and equitable distribution of accommodation. The Home Office has failed to ensure providers deliver in line with its plans—something that should have been considered when the contracts were set up—and has not succeeded in allaying concerns that providers are procuring on the basis of cost, rather than equity. We recognise that there are substantial barriers to achieving the plans in some areas, due to the broader failure of house building rates and access to services to keep pace with population growth, but we have seen no evidence that the Home Office has a credible plan for meeting its targets to make the distribution of asylum accommodation more equitable. (Conclusion, Paragraph 154)
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Government response AI summary
The Home Office states its commitment to fair distribution and is reviewing its indexing tool for capacity and impact. It has National Asylum Allocation Plans and a transformation programme to reduce reliance on contingency accommodation and restore a sustainable dispersal model, despite rejecting a specific …
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Home Office
37
Conclusion
4th Report – The Home Office's manageme…
Acknowledged
The Home Office has failed to properly consider the impacts of its approach to the delivery of asylum accommodation on local areas and to engage early with local partners to understand what these impacts might be. It is inexplicable that the Home Office has placed no obligation on providers to …
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The Home Office has failed to properly consider the impacts of its approach to the delivery of asylum accommodation on local areas and to engage early with local partners to understand what these impacts might be. It is inexplicable that the Home Office has placed no obligation on providers to assess impacts on local areas. Failures to identify and mitigate impacts, compounded by the disproportionate distribution of accommodation, has led to some local services experiencing unsustainable pressures. This failure to recognise broader impacts can be seen in the pressures experienced by local authorities in areas where significant numbers of asylum seekers have received positive decisions and subsequently become homeless. These pressures have been exacerbated by inconsistent communication and inadequate data sharing, which has undermined the ability of local partners to respond effectively to the placement of asylum seekers in their area. (Conclusion, Paragraph 165)
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Government response AI summary
The Home Office states that impacts on local areas are actively considered using an indexing model that accounts for local pressures. It launched a pilot to extend the move-on period for asylum seekers and has issued guidance to all providers on appropriate data sharing to …
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Home Office
39
Conclusion
4th Report – The Home Office's manageme…
Acknowledged
For too long, the Home Office has not prioritised community cohesion in its approach to asylum accommodation, no doubt at least partly because that is the responsibility of another department. The Home Office has failed to properly engage with local communities, and as a result has missed opportunities to proactively …
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For too long, the Home Office has not prioritised community cohesion in its approach to asylum accommodation, no doubt at least partly because that is the responsibility of another department. The Home Office has failed to properly engage with local communities, and as a result has missed opportunities to proactively communicate its approach to asylum accommodation and address local concerns. The lack of engagement and transparency has left space for misinformation and mistrust to grow, which in too many areas has led to tensions and undermined the ability of local partners to promote social cohesion. (Conclusion, Paragraph 172)
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Government response AI summary
The Home Office asserts it already engages extensively with local authorities and partners on asylum accommodation. It is also committed to improving and prioritizing communication with local communities, developing clear messaging, strengthening engagement channels, and undertaking trials with police forces to counter misinformation and foster …
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Home Office
41
Recommendation
4th Report – The Home Office's manageme…
Acknowledged
The Home Office has not demonstrated that it has had a strategy for the delivery of asylum accommodation. The department’s approach has instead been a series of hasty, short-term responses, damaging relationships with partners and confidence in the ability of government to deliver, as well as wasting taxpayers’ money. In …
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The Home Office has not demonstrated that it has had a strategy for the delivery of asylum accommodation. The department’s approach has instead been a series of hasty, short-term responses, damaging relationships with partners and confidence in the ability of government to deliver, as well as wasting taxpayers’ money. In the face of current pressures for swift action on asylum accommodation, the Home Office must learn the lessons from its previous mistakes and avoid cutting corners in a rush to deliver short-term solutions without a clear strategy. (Conclusion, Paragraph 177) The Home Office’s future strategy
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Government response AI summary
The government reiterates its commitment to exiting all asylum hotels as soon as possible, stating it's a complex programme requiring a balanced and evidence-based approach, and is reviewing its long-term accommodation strategy.
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Home Office
42
Conclusion
4th Report – The Home Office's manageme…
Acknowledged
The 2026 break clause and the end of the contracts in 2029 represent an opportunity to draw a line under the current failed, chaotic and expensive system and move to a model that is more effective and offers value for money. While the Home Office is considering options, it has …
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The 2026 break clause and the end of the contracts in 2029 represent an opportunity to draw a line under the current failed, chaotic and expensive system and move to a model that is more effective and offers value for money. While the Home Office is considering options, it has not yet shared a clear strategy for the delivery of a sustainable accommodation system. Moreover, there has been little clarity from ministers even regarding the basis on which they will make a decision on using the break clause. There is a serious risk that if the Home Office does not expedite the development of a long-term strategy for the future delivery of asylum accommodation, when it is time to replace the current contracts the department will find itself in a similar position to that of 2019, with limited choices as to how it secures accommodation. (Conclusion, Paragraph 186) 106
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Government response AI summary
The Home Office states that exiting asylum hotels is a top priority, with significant progress already made, and commits to ending hotel use by the end of the current Parliament. It is reviewing its long-term accommodation strategy in light of recent policy statements and is …
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Home Office
43
Conclusion
4th Report – The Home Office's manageme…
Acknowledged
The Government has committed to ending the use of hotels to house asylum seekers by the end of this Parliament. Ministers have yet to set out a fully articulated plan with clear milestones for how the Government will deliver a significant reduction in the use of hotels while maintaining flexible …
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The Government has committed to ending the use of hotels to house asylum seekers by the end of this Parliament. Ministers have yet to set out a fully articulated plan with clear milestones for how the Government will deliver a significant reduction in the use of hotels while maintaining flexible capacity in the system. We recognise that the Home Office faces an extremely difficult task, and there are no quick or easy solutions to ending the use of hotels. Due to the inherent unpredictability of the need for asylum accommodation, use of hotels as Contingency Accommodation has proved an essential backstop in the system for years. This experience suggests that it is unwise for the Government to box itself in by ruling out options. The Government must be honest about the challenges it faces if it is to avoid undermining public confidence still further by making commitments that it cannot expect to keep. (Conclusion, Paragraph 187)
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Government response AI summary
The government reiterates its commitment to ending hotel use by the end of Parliament, citing progress in reducing numbers, and states it is reviewing its long-term accommodation strategy, but will not publish specific timelines for closures.
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Home Office
45
Recommendation
4th Report – The Home Office's manageme…
Acknowledged
There is no one solution that will solve the fundamental challenges of delivering asylum accommodation on the required scale, and the Home Office cannot simply sub-contract responsibility to local government or private companies—ministers must have effective control and oversight. Regardless of the model the Home Office adopts, working in partnership …
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There is no one solution that will solve the fundamental challenges of delivering asylum accommodation on the required scale, and the Home Office cannot simply sub-contract responsibility to local government or private companies—ministers must have effective control and oversight. Regardless of the model the Home Office adopts, working in partnership with local stakeholders nevertheless remains essential, and the Home Office should work with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and local government to shape a future approach that is more locally led but better centrally coordinated. (Conclusion, Paragraph 197)
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Government response AI summary
The government is committed to ending hotel use for asylum accommodation and is reviewing its long-term strategy, working with other departments and engaging with local authorities. However, it did not explicitly commit to shaping a future approach that is *more locally led* as recommended, focusing …
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Home Office