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The cost of putting asylum seekers in hotels rose to £15 million a day last year, almost double the amount previously thought, official figures suggest.
The total amount spent on hotels and support for asylum seekers rose to £5.4bn in 2023/4. This is significantly more than the Home Office’s £1 billion budget for asylum support, resettlement and accommodation, Labour’s analysis of Treasury figures suggests.
This brings total spending on hotels and support to £15m per day, far higher than the £8m per day estimated in September.
Despite the government closing 50 asylum hotels at the end of January and opening controversial large-scale accommodation centers such as RAF Wethersfield and Bibby Stockholm Barge, official figures on Thursday showed that tens of thousands of It is expected to indicate that a person is staying. This type of accommodation.
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “This reveals the complete mess the Conservatives have created in the asylum system. They are spending billions on hotel accommodation because they are not clearing the backlog of asylum applications.
“Despite promises of action from the Prime Minister, it has gone unfulfilled and the Home Secretary has been forced to go to the Prime Minister with a begging bowl after spending more than £5 billion on the budget.
“Families across the country who are suffering from a cost of living crisis would rather know why the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary are spending millions of pounds on refugee accommodation every day, rather than grasping the problem they have caused. Of course, this will cause the backlog to spiral out of control.
“Labour will add more than 1,000 new caseworkers to end the use of asylum hotels, fast-track cases in safe countries, process asylum claims faster and process refugee claims more quickly. and set out a clear plan to save taxpayers billions of pounds by recruiting 1,000 restitution staff who have no right to be here.”
Labor’s figures were obtained by analyzing Treasury’s supplementary estimates.
The Home Office has been contacted for comment.