Taxpayers Pay £4 Million a Day on Migrant Hotels and Accommodation – More than Triple Original Estimate
Asylum hotels and other accommodation will cost the taxpayer £15 billion over 10 years – £4 million a day and more than triple the Government’s original estimate, the National Audit Office has revealed. The Mail has more.
Contracts were originally forecast to cost £4.5 billion over a decade from 2019 but are now expected to run to £15.3 billion over same period, after the Channel crisis exploded.
It means that on average the taxpayer will spend £4,191,780 a day on housing asylum seekers over the life of the contracts.
A separate breakdown from the NAO showed overall costs in 2024-25 were £1.67 billion.
That amounted to £4,567,123 a day on average, or £3,172 a minute.
Asylum hotels “may be more profitable” for companies holding the contracts than other types of housing, the Government’s official auditors said.
The Home Office awarded the 10-year contracts to three suppliers in 2019 – Clearsprings Ready Homes, Mears Group and Serco – which each operate two or three UK regions each.
They are responsible for finding a range of self-catering accommodation for asylum seekers who are dispersed across the country, and for sub-contracting hotels for tens of thousands of migrants coming across the Channel by small boat.
The report found Clearsprings is now set to be paid £7.3 billion over the 10 years from 2019 to 2029, the NAO said, while Serco is expected to get £5.5 billion and Mears will receive £2.5 billion.
Its study said: “The total reported profit of suppliers was £383 million between September 2019 and August 2024.
“In the first five years of the contract, available data from suppliers show annual profit margins ranging from a loss of 2% to a profit of 17%.
“This is equivalent to an overall 7% profit margin across the whole service.”
The report went on: “People accommodated in hotels account for 76% of the annual cost of the contracts (£1.3 billion out of an estimated £1.7 billion in 2024-25).
Worth reading in full.
Meanwhile, an investigation by the Conservatives has uncovered Left-wing activism among immigration judges and led to calls for those who breach the judicial code of conduct in this way to face removal. The Mail has more.
Immigration judges have been accused of potentially breaching the judicial code of conduct by advocating highly charged political views.
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said the immigration courts – which can over-rule the Home Office in asylum cases and other types of immigration claims – had been infiltrated by “activist judges”.
Research compiled by the Conservative Party showed immigration judges have made political remarks about the system they are supposed to adjudicate upon impartially.
One judge works for an organisation which provides weekly advice sessions for migrants in northern France who are seeking to enter Britain illegally by small boat.
Another has publicly backed calls for changes in immigration law by a charity which previously played a key role in legal challenges against the Conservatives’ Rwanda asylum scheme.
Mr Jenrick expressed concern that some immigration judges’ activities indicated a “clear breach” of the judicial code of conduct.
The Tory frontbencher said: “If a judge’s record of activism means they would be expected to recuse themselves from hearing certain cases, their position is untenable.
“Their apparent conflicts of interests are otherwise a clear breach of the judicial code of conduct.”
He said the Chairman of the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC), Helen Pitcher, should be removed for failing to ensure the organisation carried out “basic checks” to ensure the independence of the judiciary.
“These examples demonstrate the JAC is broken,” Mr Jenrick said.
“It is failing to uphold the independence of the judiciary.
“Either out of sheer incompetence, or in sympathy for the open borders views of some lawyers, it appears that basic checks aren’t being completed.
“The commission’s chair must be sacked.
“Without reform, we will continue to see activists elevated to the bench, and confidence in judicial independence will only erode further.”
He added: “If activist immigration judges step into the political arena, they should expect a political response.
“There must be accountability when judges display open borders activism and engage in political campaigning.
“Judges are not beyond legitimate scrutiny.”
One deputy judge in the Upper Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber, Rebecca Chapman, works for Refugee Legal Support, a charity which provides legal support and other help to migrants, including those based in France who are heading for Britain across the Channel.
She serves on the charity’s casework sub-committee and its human resources sub-committee, and was appointed a trustee in 2020.
Also worth reading in full.
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Since when was a government cost estimate accurate?
We are talking about people that systematically overspend every single year without exception.
Costs always exceed revenue. Always.
If it were a company it would be bankrupt. If it was a household it would be destitute.
There are alcoholic gambling addicts who are more responsible with money than the government.
If the deficit is rising, which we are told it is, then the country is bankrupt.
Formally not because the government can issue its own currency, ie we pay through increased inflation.
And of course for creditors it’s a partial default de facto if not de jure.
But yes, and I agree impeachment for gross malfeasance in office followed by impalement would be a suitable response.
I beg to differ.
First because HMT borrows also in currencies other than sterling and they as well as businesses have non sterling liabilities.
Second, when buying energy and food (and medicines, munitions, Ministers’ flights etc) the bill is not in sterling. If suppliers and lenders will no longer accept sterling we cannot survive.
And it looks like nothing’s going to change until you get a radically different government; ”Britain and the EU are to commit to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) at this month’s post-Brexit summit, a leaked draft agreement has revealed. The statement says the UK and EU are “committed” to not only UN agreements but also the ECHR The leaked draft also steers clear of the term “illegal” migration, referring to it instead as “irregular” migration, which has previously sparked criticism of a softening in the approach to border control. The joint statement is being drawn up for the summit on May 19th. Read it below. 8. We recognise the shared challenge of irregular migration and the need to work across the whole route to address it. We note too the importance of securing our collective borders, while remaining committed to ensuring international protection for those who need it. 9. We agreed that, in an increasingly contested and volatile world, our shared commitment to multilateralism is vital. We recognised the importance of upholding international law, and are committed to the UN Charter, the Helsinki Decalogue, the implementation of the UN pact for the future, and subsequent OSCE commitments and the… Read more »
Paul Weston does have a cracking way with words, so any excuse to squeeze a couple of his comments in. I just find it hilarious how much he despises Starmer;
”Living under the Starmer regime is akin to living under enemy occupation. Everything he does is designed to damage England as a nation, and to humiliate, persecute, impoverish and imprison English citizens whilst simultaneously rewarding foreign people and foreign powers.
When the soft-handed, flabbily adenoidal, Traitor Robot talks of “change” – what he really means is the total and utter transformation of Britain along Revolutionary lines. He has no qualms about burning the country to the ground provided his Fabian tyranny rises from the ashes.”
https://x.com/PWestoff/status/1920030808288419840
Can’t disagree. Each day I read what Labour has done with dread.
A fascinating read, thanks. Once again our rulers demonstrate their malign clown-worldism.
But I wonder what “our collective borders” are. And I wonder why our anti-white government wants to defend these chimerical “collective borders”, but not our actual national borders. It’s all very puzzling …
It is good to know that labour has its finger on the pulse of the Nation’s economy
Enjoy that pulse while lasts, I suspect it is weakening rapidly.
note that government departments never have actual hard data. They may have estimates long after the time when data was needed.
do they not have an order processing system, contract management and accounting systems. These should produce daily, weekly and monthly data automatically for Ministers and responsible (sic) senior staff.
Actual hard data should be available promptly and definitely within the time allowed to Contractors to submit HMRC returns: 14 days. For regulated financial businesses full accounting has to be available daily for the regulated business.
I am naive about this subject. Perhaps because it is too ghastly for me to stomach. It leads to some naive questions. I have wondered for a long time why they are using this sort of accomodation for these people. Profits of course as stated above. This idea of activist judges is new to me as well. I mean why would this be the case? Probably money as well somewhere in the pipeline I imagine. It is all pretty sick like chewing every last bit of meat off the bone no grift unturned.
Some of the people involved are no doubt thinking of their future employment options… and helping to ‘enable’ them
Just stop the gravy train, i.e.
Terminate the contracts with hotels and landlords to house and feed illegal migrants.
Stop providing free medical care.
Crack down on rogue employment.
Deport.
Quote … ‘One judge works for an organization which provides weekly advice sessions for migrants in northern France who are seeking to enter Britain illegally by small boat.’
WHAT!!
Quote … ‘Another has publicly backed calls for changes in immigration law by a charity which previously played a key role in legal challenges against the Conservatives’ Rwanda asylum scheme.’
WHAT!! Judges doing this?? Judges? No wonder our ‘progressive’ Gummint is happy to let the small boats keep arriving if JUDGES are actively working on the project to destroy the UK. Parliament must debate this right now.