- Ending migrant hotel stays.
- High taxpayer costs criticized.
- Asylum backlog and challenges.
The government anticipates ending migrant shelter in 50 hotels in January.
Almost 400 hotels housed an unprecedented number of asylum seekers.
Concerns Over Taxpayer Expenses
Robert Jenrick, the minister of immigration, is scheduled to declare on Tuesday his intention to initiate the termination of hotel contracts that are generating a daily expense of £8 million for the taxpayer.
Ministers have often criticised the expenditure and committed to reduce government hotel use.
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The utilization of lodging establishments has boomed in tandem with the influx of individuals seeking asylum in the United Kingdom.
The Immigration and Asylum Act of 1999 requires the Home Office to house poor asylum seekers during processing.
The August asylum application volume peaked at 175,000.
Backlog and Policy Changes
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak established in December 2022 the objective of resolving the alleged legacy backlog by the conclusion of the current year. The government has since increased the number of individuals processing asylum applications by twofold, to 2,500.
Labour has demanded the hiring of one thousand additional caseworkers to clear the asylum backlog.
Peter Walsh, a researcher at the Migration Observatory of Oxford University, informed that although the backlog of legacy applications (those submitted before June 30, 2022) had decreased, this had been counterbalanced by the influx of new applications.
He inquired as to where asylum seekers would be housed because the backlog of cases has remained essentially unchanged since the previous year.
Local governments worried earlier this year that the government’s hotel ban may impoverish Afghan families.
Room Sharing and New Initiatives
In recent weeks, hotels in Northampton and Kettering, which Labour may target in the general election, stopped accepting migrants.
It is believed that only a minority of migrants remain in the others.
To decrease the cost of lodging, the Bibby Stockholm vessel has been utilized to transport several migrants.
August saw the evacuation of the vessel, which could have accommodated up to 500 men pending the outcome of asylum applications, due to the discovery of Legionella bacteria in the water supply.
Ministers anticipate housing additional migrants on vessels in the coming months.
In recent months, hotels that house asylum applicants have been the target of occasionally violent demonstrations.
This year, the Home Office implemented Project Maximise, which seeks to increase the number of guests that can stay in hotels by adding more beds to rooms, to reduce hotel expenditures.
As per the government’s statement, it guarantees that rooms are maintained at an “appropriate size” and that asylum seekers are not required to share with individuals of the opposite gender.
The statement states that room sharing is not mandatory, but encourages individuals to do so with friends whenever practicable.
Challenges in Asylum Processing
Small boat arrivals across the English Channel comprised approximately 45% of asylum applications submitted in the United Kingdom in 2022.
Mr. Sunak has identified reducing the influx of individuals entering the United Kingdom without authorization as a primary objective.
The latest data shows 26,111 small boat arrivals in 2018, down 31% from 37,578 at this point last year.
A government programme announced in April 2022 would transfer certain asylum seekers to Rwanda.
Ministers think this will dissuade people from crossing the Channel to the UK in small boats.
The Supreme Court is presently deliberating on the legality of the scheme, after the Court of Appeal’s reversal of a prior High Court decision stating that the plan was lawful.
Mr. Sunak has identified reducing the influx of individuals entering the United Kingdom without authorization as a primary objective.
