Government struggles to chop overseas help spent on asylum accommodations

The govt is suffering to chop the quantity of overseas help it spends on lodge expenses for asylum seekers in the United Kingdom, the BBC has learnt.

New figures launched quietly by way of ministers in contemporary days display the Home Office plans to spend £2.2bn of in another country building help (ODA) this monetary yr – this is best marginally lower than the £2.3bn it spent in 2024/25.

The cash is in large part used to hide the lodging prices of 1000’s of asylum seekers who’ve just lately arrived in the United Kingdom.

The Home Office stated it was once dedicated to finishing asylum accommodations and was once rushing up asylum selections to avoid wasting taxpayers’ cash.

The figures have been revealed at the Home Office web page and not using a accompanying notification to media.

The BBC additionally understands the Home Office is operating with the Greater Manchester mixed authority on plans to extend the quantity of dispersal lodging to be had for asylum seekers, with the hope it might cut back the usage of accommodations.

The provide of dispersal lodging – which is longer-term, transient housing – has no longer stored tempo with report ranges of asylum programs.

Foreign help is meant to be spent assuaging poverty by way of offering humanitarian and building help in another country.

But beneath global regulations, governments can spend a few of their overseas help budgets at house to toughen asylum seekers right through the primary yr after their arrival.

According to the latest Home Office figures, there are about 32,000 asylum seekers in accommodations in the United Kingdom.

Labour promised in its manifesto to “end asylum hotels, saving the taxpayer billions of pounds”.

Contracts signed by way of the Conservative govt in 2019 have been anticipated to peer £4.5bn of public money paid to 3 firms to deal with asylum seekers over a 10-year length.

But a file by way of spending watchdog the National Audit Office (NAO) in May stated that quantity was once anticipated to be £15.3bn.

On June 3, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper advised the Home Affairs Committee she was once “concerned about the level of money” being spent on asylum seekers’ lodging and added: “We need to end asylum hotels altogether.”

The Home Office stated it was once looking to endure down at the numbers by way of lowering the time asylum seekers can attraction towards selections. It could also be making plans to introduce tighter monetary eligibility assessments to verify best the ones with out approach are housed.

But Whitehall officers and global charities have stated the Home Office has no incentive to scale back ODA spending since the cash does no longer pop out of its budgets.

The scale of presidency help spending on asylum accommodations has supposed massive cuts in UK toughen for humanitarian and building priorities internationally.

Those cuts had been exacerbated by way of the federal government’s discounts to the total ODA finances. In February, Sir Keir Starmer stated he would narrow help spending from 0.5% of gross nationwide source of revenue to 0.3% by way of 2027 – a fall in absolute phrases of about £14bn to a few £9bn.

Such was once the size of help spending on asylum accommodations lately that the former Conservative govt gave the Foreign Office an additional £2bn to shore up its humanitarian commitments in another country. But Labour has refused to compare that dedication.

Gideon Rabinowitz, director of coverage on the Bond community of building organisations, stated: “Cutting the UK aid budget while using it to prop up Home Office costs is a reckless repeat of decisions taken by the previous Conservative government.

“Diverting £2.2bn of UK help to hide asylum lodging in the United Kingdom is unsustainable, deficient price for cash, and is derived on the expense of necessary building and humanitarian programmes tackling the basis reasons of poverty, battle and displacement.

“It is essential that we support refugees and asylum seekers in the UK, but the government should not be robbing Peter to pay Paul.”

Sarah Champion, chair of the International Development Committee, stated the federal government was once introducing “savage cuts” to its ODA spending, risking the United Kingdom’s building priorities and global recognition, whilst “Home Office raids on the aid budget” had slightly lowered.

“Aid is meant to help the poorest and most vulnerable across the world: to alleviate poverty, improve life chances and reduce the risk of conflict,” she stated. “Allowing the Home Office to spend it in the UK makes this task even harder.”

“The government must get a grip on spending aid in the UK,” she stated. “The Spending Review needs to finally draw a line under this perverse use of taxpayer money designed to keep everyone safe and prosperous in their own homes, not funding inappropriate, expensive accommodation here.”

Shadow house secretary Chris Philp stated: “Labour promised in their manifesto to end the use of asylum hotels for illegal immigrants. But the truth is there are now thousands more illegal migrants being housed in hotels under Labour.

“Now those paperwork divulge that Labour are the use of overseas help to pay for asylum lodge lodging – but some other promise damaged.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We inherited an asylum device beneath outstanding force, and proceed to do so, restoring order, and cut back prices. This will in the long run cut back the quantity of Official Development Assistance spent to toughen asylum seekers and refugees in the United Kingdom.

“We are immediately speeding up decisions and increasing returns so that we can end the use of hotels and save the taxpayer £4bn by 2026.”