Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 19
19
Deferred
Hold providers accountable for inadequate asylum accommodation and strengthen contract oversight.
Conclusion
The quality of accommodation is highly variable across the country. While there is clearly accommodation of an acceptable standard, too many asylum seekers continue to be placed in accommodation that is inadequate or deeply unsuitable. The accommodation asylum seekers are housed in should be adequate, and it is unacceptable that significant amounts of taxpayers’ money is being used to house often vulnerable people in sub-standard accommodation. The Home Office is ultimately responsible for ensuring asylum seekers are accommodated appropriately, and to fulfil this responsibility the department must hold providers to account 99 where they fail to deliver the service they are being paid for. We have recommended earlier in this report that the Home Office strengthen its approach to performance management and oversight of these contracts. This is essential to ensure that vulnerable people are housed in adequate conditions. (Conclusion, Paragraph 80) Large sites and former military barracks
Government Response Summary
The government deflects the recommendation to improve variable accommodation quality and strengthen performance management of providers, by focusing on its strategy to exit all asylum hotels and deliver a range of alternative accommodation sites.
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
As outlined in the Asylum Policy Statement, exiting all asylum hotels as soon as possible is one of the Department’s top priorities, as it will contribute to removing the incentives which draw people to the UK illegally. Significant progress has already been made, reducing hotel usage from over 400 at their peak in the summer of 2023 to 197 in use as of 5th January 2026. For safety, security, and operational reasons, the department does not comment on individual hotels or the timing of closures. We will take a balanced and evidence-based approach towards making decisions about the locations that we will use and how we will exit hotels. We will continue to engage closely with local authorities as plans develop. We do not want to be in a situation where, without an alternative ready, we start exiting hotels before it is time to do so or publish timeframes that are unrealistic and do not account for fluctuations in demand. The Home Office is committed to deliver the Prime Minister’s commitment to end the use of hotels as asylum accommodation as soon as possible, and before the end of this Parliament. This is a complex programme of work that requires concerted cross-government effort and must be managed in an orderly and controlled manner. We will update the Committee of the progress in due course. We are reviewing our long-term accommodation strategy in light of the publication of the government’s recent Restoring Order and Control statement. The Home Office is working in collaboration with other government departments to deliver a range of accommodation sites, including military sites, that contribute to a more flexible estate. This will complement ongoing Home Office reforms to the asylum accommodation estate. 20