Government struggling to reduce migrant hotel use as asylum claims hit record level

Published

3 months ago

August 22, 2025

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Government efforts to reduce the use of expensive hotel accommodation for asylum seekers have stalled in the face of local opposition and court bottlenecks.

During last year’s election, Labour promised to end the use of hotels by 2029.

But data released on Thursday by the Home Office shows there are more asylum seekers in hotels than when Sir Keir Starmer took office.

As of 30 June this year, there were 32,059 asylum seekers staying in hotels compared with 29,585 in June 2024.

The government has been trying to get more asylum seekers into residential housing, which is much cheaper than hotels, by dispersing them to more locations across the country.

But the arrival of asylum seekers in new areas, and the use of residential housing to accommodate them, has provoked a backlash from residents and local politicians.

This has made it crucial for the government to cut the overall number in need of housing – either by reducing the number of applicants or by processing their claims more quickly.

The data, however, shows that the government is struggling on both fronts.

Effort to reduce hotel use

Both Conservative and Labour governments have sought to decrease reliance on hotel accommodation for asylum seekers due to soaring costs.

The Home Office spent £4.76bn on asylum last year, almost four times as much as it spent in 2020-21 (£1.34bn). Of every £1 spent, 76p went on hotel accommodation alone.

Housing an asylum seeker in a hotel costs around £170 per night, compared with £27 for other types of accommodation, according to estimates by Oxford University’s Migration Observatory.

A policy introduced in 2023, under the Conservatives, sought to reduce reliance on hotels by dispersing asylum seekers more evenly across the country.

Data shows that the policy started having an impact even before it was formally implemented.

In September 2022, 31% of asylum seekers were housed in just ten councils. Three months later, that figure had fallen to 24%.

But Sky News analysis shows that areas which have seen more asylum seekers arriving since then are actually more likely to use hotels – undercutting the purpose of the policy.

And the arrival of asylum seekers in locations across the country has sparked protests by residents and legal action by councils.

You can see how the policy has affected your area using the table below.

Residents and politicians have also raised concerns about the main alternative to hotels – the use of residential housing, including houses in multiple occupation (HMOs).

In her maiden speech to Parliament in May, Reform MP for Runcorn and Helsby Sarah Pochin described HMOs housing asylum seekers as “breeding grounds for organised crime gangs”.

A huge backlog of claims

The fact that the government is being criticised wherever it places asylum seekers suggests that their real problem is the overall number of asylum seekers requiring accommodation.

As of June, that number stood at 102,866, more than twice as high as March 2020 (48,042) and only 14% below the record levels reached in September 2023 (119,010).

The government is required under international law to provide asylum seekers with housing while their claims are being assessed if they would otherwise be “destitute”.

And because the government also forbids asylum seekers from working until their claims are approved, that means they have to provide accommodation for almost all of them.

Since 2020, the number of asylum seekers awaiting a final decision on their claim has more than doubled.

That is partly due to a slowdown in processing asylum claims.

In May 2019, the Conservative government abandoned a target of processing most claims within six months. By March 2020, the share processed within six months fell from 52% to 39%.

“By delaying or not taking decisions, they produced this huge backlog that also put a lot of pressure on the provision of accommodation,” says Professor Nando Sigona of the University of Birmingham.

A rise in asylum applications

The issue was exacerbated by a surge in asylum claims after pandemic restrictions were eased in 2021.

Home Office data shows that the number of decisions made on asylum applications fell during this period and only began to increase significantly in 2023.

That increase in decisions has helped to cut the number of cases awaiting an initial decision over the past year from 85,839 to 70,532.

On Thursday, as the statistics were released, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the government was making progress on the backlog and had reduced it by 18%.

But appeals to these initial decisions are common, and the government is required to house asylum seekers until their appeals are over.

Data from the Ministry of Justice shows that, as of March this year, 50,976 claims were awaiting appeal decisions.

That puts the total backlog at 129,721 cases, up from 119,066 in June last year.

Professor Sigona says that the number of people applying for asylum has risen across Europe in recent years, but that other countries have avoided being obliged to house so many of them by relaxing work requirements.

“In Europe asylum seekers are allowed to work much more rapidly,” says Eleonore Kofman, professor of gender, migration and citizenship at Middlesex University.

Without the right to work, she says, “you kind of lock them into destitution and you have to provide housing for them”.

The government has struggled to reduce small boat arrivals

As well as increasing the processing of asylum claims, the government has sought to reduce the number of claims by reducing small boat crossings.

However, a total of 43,309 people arrived in the UK by small boat during Labour’s first year in office, a 38% increase on the year before. Almost all of them (99%) claimed asylum.

In the year to June, people crossing on small boats accounted for 38% of asylum claims.

The UK requires people to apply for asylum from within the country but does not offer a visa for those wishing to make an application.

This means that most people who want to flee to the UK must come illegally – either by using another type of visa, or by entering irregularly.

On 6 August, a deal between the UK and France took effect, opening up a new route for asylum seekers and a possible way for the government to deter small boat crossings.

Under the agreement, France will accept the return of migrants who arrive in the UK by small boat in exchange for the UK accepting an equivalent number of asylum seekers currently in France.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said that the new policy “sends a message to every migrant currently thinking of paying organised crime gangs to go to the UK that they will be risking their lives and throwing away their money if they get into a small boat.”

Speaking to Sky News on Thursday, director of the Migration Observatory think tank Madeleine Sumption said it remains unclear how many people France will agree to take back.

“If it’s a relatively small, symbolic number… then asylum seekers may just see that there’s one more risk… at the end of an already risky journey and [it’s] something that they’re willing to accept.”

As of Wednesday, 2,561 migrants had arrived in the UK by small boat since the policy took effect.

Additional reporting by Sophia Massam.

The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

UK

Robert Best death: Women in court after man’s body found in Inverclyde field

Published

3 hours ago

November 19, 2025

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Robert Best death: Women in court after man's body found in Inverclyde field

Two women have appeared in court charged with attempting to defeat the ends of justice after a man was found dead in a field in Inverclyde.

The body of Robert Best, 50, was discovered near High Mathernock Farm, Kilmacolm, on the morning of 11 November.

He had been reported missing from Greenock the same day.

Dorothy Shields, 64, and Nicola Brisland, also known as Nicola Campbell, 41, were arrested and charged in connection with Mr Best’s death.

The pair appeared before Greenock Sheriff Court on Wednesday, where they made no plea to the charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

The suspects, both of Port Glasgow, were granted bail ahead of their next court appearance, which is yet to be confirmed.

Andrew Brodie, 51, and Stephen Shields, 44, have already appeared in court in connection with the case.

The pair have each been charged with murder and attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

The suspects, both of Greenock, made no plea to the two separate charges last week and were remanded in custody ahead of their next court appearance.

A 45-year-old man previously arrested in connection with assault and a 41-year-old man arrested at the same time as the two women have both been released pending further enquiries.

Police Scotland previously said officers investigating Mr Best’s death were carrying out enquiries into a report of a disturbance in Lansbury Street, Greenock, which took place between 11pm on 10 November and 3am on 11 November.

A force spokesperson said: “Enquiries are ongoing.”

UK

Illegal mountain of waste next to river ‘utterly appalling’, says PM

Published

3 hours ago

November 19, 2025

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Illegal mountain of waste next to river 'utterly appalling', says PM

Sir Keir Starmer has called the pile of fly-tipped illegal waste next to a river in Oxfordshire “utterly appalling” and said “all available powers” will be used to make those responsible cover the cost of the clean-up.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said the pile of rubbish in a field beside the River Cherwell in Kidlington is now 150m long and up to 12m high, adding that water is “now lapping against the waste and carrying it into the river”.

Speaking at PMQs, Sir Ed said it is just one of many sites where organised criminal gangs are “illegally dumping their waste onto our countryside and getting away with it”.

“This is a shocking environmental emergency. So will he instruct the Environment Agency to clean it up now?” Sir Ed added.

Sir Keir responded in the House of Commons on Wednesday, calling the scenes “utterly appalling”.

The prime minister said: “A criminal investigation, as he knows, is under way. Specialist officers are tracking down those responsible.

“The Environmental Agency, in answer to this question, will use all available powers to make sure that the perpetrators cover the cost of the clean-up, which must now follow.”

Sir Keir added: “We have boosted the Environment Agency’s budget for tackling waste crime by 50%, giving councils new powers to seize and crush fly-tippers, vehicles and lawbreakers can now face up to five years in jail.”

Earlier this week, Calum Miller, Liberal Democrat MP for Bicester and Woodstock, said recent heavy rainfall brought by Storm Claudia at the weekend had made the situation more urgent, and meant the rubbish was slowly floating towards the river, which eventually flows through Oxford and feeds the Thames.

Mr Miller also told Sky News on Sunday it was the first time he had seen anything on this scale, questioning whether the Environmental Agency had the resources to deal with it.

The cost of removing the waste is estimated to be more than the entire annual budget of the local council, which is about £25m.

With the site on a floodplain, Mr Miller listed what he saw as the three major environmental risks – waste being washed into the waterways, rain seeping through the waste and carrying toxins into the water and the danger of decomposing chemicals presenting a fire risk.

The site is adjacent to the A34, a busy road running through cities including Oxford and Birmingham.

He said the police had used a helicopter with a heat-seeking camera, and could see that some of the waste was beginning to decompose.

Mr Miller said he believed the Environment Agency was first made aware of the issue back in July.

He said he believed it was the work of “organised criminal gangs” and raised a “bigger systemic problem around the country”, with “dumps are cropping up in more and more places”.

He added: “My concern is the Environmental Agency lacks the resources to deal with criminal activity on this scale. I’m calling on the government to take action and ensure those who are dealing with such incidents have the powers they need to tackle it at source.”

Anna Burns, the Environment Agency’s director for the Thames area, said on Wednesday: “Most of the tipping happened before we were aware of it. As soon as we were aware, we acted quickly and decisively.”

Ms Burns said: “We are pursuing this as a criminal investigation and currently following a number of leads, and we are laser focused on pursing that investigation.

“And we are working with partners to understand the risks associated with the site.”

She said the agency will pursue the perpetrators to make them pay for the “blight on the landscape” they had caused.

UK

Oasis fan fell to his death at Wembley in ‘tragic accident’, coroner’s court hears

Published

5 hours ago

November 19, 2025

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Oasis fan fell to his death at Wembley in 'tragic accident', coroner's court hears

An Oasis fan who fell to his death at Wembley Stadium was the victim of a “tragic accident”, a pre-inquest review has heard.

Bournemouth man Lee Claydon, 45, died following the incident at the London venue on 2 August.

Detective Sergeant James Raffin, from the Met Police, said there were “no concerns” from Mr Claydon’s toxicology report.

He also said that while Mr Claydon had drunk alcohol, this was “expected” and “normal for any of the people attending” the Oasis gig.

The force had also ruled out the possibility of suicide, he said.

He told Barnet Coroner’s Court the police had now completed their investigation into his death

He said: “From a police point of view, this is no longer a criminal prosecution.

“We do not suspect any third party involvement.

“This, from everything we have seen, was a tragic accident.

“From a police point of view, I would say our investigation is complete.”

DS Raffin said he was aware the family had concerns over the “circumstances on the night”, and said he would pass these on to officials at Brent Council.

The deceased’s father, Clive Claydon, 75, previously raised questions about barriers at the venue.

“It must have been horrific,” he said in August.

“All I know is there was beer everywhere, it’s slippery, he slipped apparently, we do not know the rest of it, there’s questions about the barriers.”

Brent Council will now review the police report.

Mr Claydon, a landscape gardener, fell during a gig that formed part of Oasis’ sell-out Live ’25 reunion tour – their first since splitting in 2009.

The inquest opening, which took place in September, heard that the father-of-three was taken to a medical centre in Wembley after the fall, where he was pronounced dead at 10.38pm.

A post-mortem examination on 6 August gave his preliminary medical cause of death as “multiple bodily injuries”.

Senior Coroner Andrew Walker told the review hearing the full inquest will take place on 26 February next year.

He said: “It looks like we are going to be in a position next February to have reports from the London Borough of Brent over the circumstances and also we will have by then the police investigation report.”

Oasis previously said in a statement: “We are shocked and saddened to hear of the tragic death of a fan at the show.

“Oasis would like to extend our sincere condolences to the family and friends of the person involved.”

In a statement at the time of the fall, a Wembley spokesperson said: “The stadium operates to a very high health and safety standard, fully meeting legal requirements for the safety of spectators and staff, and is certified to and compliant with the ISO 45001 standard.

“We work very closely and collaboratively with all relevant event delivery stakeholders – including event owners, local authorities, the Sports Grounds Safety Authority and the police – to deliver events to high standards of safety, security and service for everyone attending or working in the venue.”