Cost of housing and welfare for every asylum seeker revealed in bombshell new figures | Politics | News | EUROtoday

The UK will spend £2.1 billion on housing and welfare for asylum seekers this yr and solely “modest reductions” are anticipated sooner or later, in line with an official watchdog. The shock figures come regardless of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s pledge to shut asylum motels and “smash” the felony gangs smuggling migrants throughout the channel. Britain can be spending extra on asylum seekers than comparable international locations, with the price of assist reaching £19,163 per individual – in comparison with a mean of simply £4,600 for different main international locations.

Home Office officers have little incentive to make efficiencies, as a result of asylum assist comes out of the UK assist finances, which is supposed to chop poverty abroad, and never from Home Office funds. The warnings got here from the Independent Commission for Aid Impact, which experiences to the House of Commons. So far this yr 3,457 cross-Channel migrants have arrived within the UK.

Highlighting funding for asylum seekers and refugees, recognized formally as in-donor refugee prices (IDRC), it stated the funding system “has not encouraged long-term planning to secure improvements in value for money. There has, as a consequence, been serious and sustained criticism of the Home Office’s management of IDRC.”

A assessment in 2023 “found a range of poor procurement and contract management practices regarding large accommodation contracts,” the watchdog stated.

Spending was £2.8 billion final yr, and is anticipated to be £2.1 billion within the 2025-26 monetary yr. The watchdog stated this was “still far above historical levels”. It warned: “The government projects only modest reductions in IDRC in the coming years, suggesting that IDRC will continue to absorb approximately one-fifth of the UK aid budget.”

Moving asylum seekers out of motels is unlikely to chop prices, the watchdog stated.

It warned: “The shift to ‘large sites’ (such as former military sites, barges and unused office buildings) could in fact cost more than the use of hotels.”

And the watchdog stated Home Office officers had instructed it they centered “on meeting their statutory obligations to refugees and asylum seekers”, whereas the impression on the help finances was “outside their control”. It stated this confirmed the findings of a earlier assessment “which noted that the Home Office was not required to finance the rising costs of hotel accommodation through reductions elsewhere in its budget”.

Aid charities have condemned using abroad growth funding to pay for asylum assist within the UK, and Britain now spends a fifth of its complete assist finances on housing migrants and asylum seekers. Sir Keir Starmer introduced in February 2025 that assist spending would fall to 0.3% on gross home product (GDP), down from 0.5%, to pay for greater defence spending.

A Home Office spokesman stated: “For too long, including under the previous government, Overseas Development Assistance has been used to fund asylum costs. This government is driving those costs down, saving nearly £1 billion in overall asylum costs last year.

“The Home Secretary has set out the most sweeping asylum reforms in a generation to restore order to the system. We’re cutting incentives for illegal migration and revoking the duty to provide asylum seeker support such as housing.

“This government will close every asylum hotel, with the hotel population already down nearly 20% in the last year and 45% from its peak under the previous government.”

Gideon Rabinowitz, Director of Policy and Advocacy at Bond, which represents assist organisations, stated: “We are disappointed by the report’s warning that, in the event of an underspend on asylum support, the Home Office are not obligated to restore these diverted funds back to the UK aid budget – meaning money intended for overseas spend may be pocketed by the Home Office, rather than spent on vital humanitarian and development support.

“While supporting refugees and asylum seekers in the UK is essential, these costs should be budgeted separately, instead of using scarce funds from the UK aid budget. Every penny must count towards reducing poverty and supporting marginalised communities worldwide – including women and girls, people in conflict zones, and people with disabilities.”