UK to close asylum hotels
British officials are preparing to close 11 asylum hotels as part of a pledge to end the use of hotels for asylum accommodation while pursuing a new, large contracted replacement for housing. Reports also say the Home Office is holding an industry day tied to a roughly £10 billion accommodation contract. (theguardian.com) (independent.co.uk)
The British government is preparing to shut 11 hotels used to house asylum seekers this week as it tries to phase out hotel use before 2029. (independent.co.uk) The Home Office is also holding a private industry day for companies interested in a new asylum housing deal known as Future Asylum Contracts Transformation, or FACT. A procurement notice says the replacement contracts are meant to cover accommodation, transport, support payments, security and compliance. (find-tender.service.gov.uk) Reports on the industry event say the new accommodation package is worth about £10 billion, would run from 2029 to 2036, and could be extended to 2039. Attendees have reportedly been asked to sign non-disclosure agreements. (independent.co.uk) Hotel use became a fallback when the United Kingdom’s asylum backlog grew and the government still had a legal duty to house destitute applicants awaiting decisions. Full Fact says hotels are part of the “contingency” system, alongside sites such as former military barracks. (fullfact.org) The cost is a central reason ministers want out. The National Audit Office said hotel accommodation made up about 76 percent of annual asylum accommodation contract costs in 2024-25, or £1.3 billion out of £1.7 billion. (nao.org.uk) The government’s public target is to end asylum hotel use “in this Parliament,” which is expected to run until 2029. Chancellor Rachel Reeves set that timetable in June 2025 when she said £200 million in transformation funding would help cut the backlog. (standard.co.uk) The numbers have moved, but not cleanly in one direction. Full Fact says 213 hotels were in use when Labour took office in July 2024, while the latest government statistics show the number of people in hotel accommodation at the end of December 2025 was slightly higher than when Labour entered office. (fullfact.org) Separate Home Office statistics for December 2025 show 64,426 people were still awaiting an initial asylum decision, down 48 percent from a year earlier. The Migration Observatory said about 31,000 asylum seekers were still in hotels at the end of 2025, around 1,000 more than when Labour took office. (gov.uk) (migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk) Ministers say faster decisions, more removals and different sites will let them close hotels. Rachel Reeves said in June 2025 that ending hotel use would save £1 billion a year, while minister Angela Eagle pointed to options such as old tower blocks and student accommodation. (standard.co.uk) Critics have questioned whether the timetable is realistic and what will replace the hotels at scale. The Home Affairs Committee said last year that the Home Office had been left in a weak position by its existing contracts, with a break clause from March 2026 offering one route to reset the system. (publications.parliament.uk) The next test is whether closing 11 hotels marks the start of a steady drawdown or just another reshuffle inside an expensive system the government still has to rebuild. (independent.co.uk)
