Recommendation 2

We recommend that the Home Office sets out plans for an asylum accommodation system that can flexibly respond to changing demand, whilst minimising potential costs to the taxpayer. In the short term, the Home Office should identify and implement any possible action it can take to direct and incentivise providers to identify alternative accommodation and exit hotels. The Home Office should also give urgent consideration to the practical implications of exercising the contractual break clauses, that become exercisable from March 2026. The Home Office should ensure that the design of future contracts from 2029 onwards is sufficiently flexible to respond to changing demand, while protecting value for money, and provides the necessary levers to ensure providers deliver appropriate accommodation. (Recommendation, Paragraph 32) 95 Contract management