The cost of housing asylum seekers in hotels has surged by 37%, reaching an average of £199 per person per night.
Asylum hotel costs have risen by more than a third (Image: Getty)
Andy Burnham has faced scrutiny over the Government’s pledge to end the use of asylum hotels, with the latest figures showing the average cost per person has risen despite the number of hotel residents falling.
The cost of housing asylum seekers in hotels has surged by more than a third despite the Government’s pledge to end their use, with taxpayers now spending an average of £199 per person per night.
Figures from the Home Office show the average cost is up 37% cent from the £144.98 figure provided by the department last October.
The latest cost works out at around £1,393 per person a week (Image: Getty)
That works out at around £1,393 per person every week, adding to pressure on ministers over the cost of asylum accommodation.
The increase comes as the Government continues its programme of closing asylum hotels. Home Office Minister Anna Turley told the Home Affairs Committee that the higher average cost was partly due to hotels being shut in phases.
She said that as occupancy falls ahead of a hotel’s full closure, the department can still be paying for unoccupied rooms, pushing up the average cost per person remaining.
The number of people housed in asylum hotels has nevertheless fallen sharply.
Some 16,021 people remained in hotels at the end of June, according to the figures provided, compared with 36,273 at the end of September last year.
The number of hotels in use also fell from 200 at the end of September to 160 by the end of June.
The Government has committed to ending the use of asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament, with ministers moving people into alternative accommodation including former military sites.
Alternative accommodation is considerably cheaper than hotels, with rented “dispersal” accommodation, including houses in multiple occupation, costing around £25 per person per night.
The latest figures mean the Government is reducing the number of people in hotels while the average cost of housing those who remain has increased.
The Home Office said: “The Government is closing every asylum hotel, saving taxpayers over £1billion on asylum support since the election.
“Numbers in asylum hotels have been slashed by 50 per cent in the last year and 71 per cent since the peak in September 2023.
“We are working to fairly house asylum seekers across the country, moving asylum seekers into alternative accommodation, including former military sites which are designed to be self-contained to reduce impact on the local community.”
The issue has become politically sensitive for Labour, which has pledged to end hotel use entirely.
The figures emerged amid criticism over plans to exempt taxpayer-funded asylum accommodation from a new overnight visitor levy.
Regional mayors are being given powers to impose the levy on stays in hotels, B&Bs and holiday lets across England, but asylum accommodation will be exempt because it is classed as temporary accommodation.
Beyond hotels, another 73,068 asylum seekers were being housed in other forms of taxpayer-funded accommodation at the end of June.