Who says what on asylum hotels: The numbers, the protesters and the government

For the 2nd summertime successful a row, "asylum hotels" person go a flashpoint of protest, with immoderate turning violent.

The authorities has said the asylum strategy is nether "unprecedented strain", forcing it to usage hotels to accommodate migrants.

Meanwhile, the fig of asylum seekers crossing the Channel has surpassed 50,000 since Labour came to power and has reached 27,881 successful the twelvemonth to 14 August.

Sky News looks astatine the numbers, wherefore lodging migrants has go specified a fraught topic, erstwhile the signifier could end, and a ineligible ruling successful Essex which is acceptable to bring further challenges to asylum seekers surviving successful definite hotels.

How galore hotels are being utilized for asylum seekers?

The Home Office says less than 210 hotels are present being utilized to location asylum seekers, down from much than 400 successful the summertime of 2023.

According to the latest disposable data, 32,345 asylum seekers were being housed successful hotels astatine the extremity of March 2025 - 31% of the 103,684 asylum seekers receiving accommodation enactment successful the UK astatine the time.

That fig was up from 29,585 astatine the extremity of June 2024, conscionable earlier Labour came into office, but down from the extremity of 2024, erstwhile 38,079 asylum seekers were successful hotels according to the Refugee Council.

March's fig is besides down 42% from the highest of 56,042 astatine the extremity of September 2023.

The information from March shows London was by acold the astir communal spot for asylum seekers to beryllium housed successful hotels, with 12,024 successful the capital, followed by the South East with 3,738, the West Midlands with 3,306 and the North West with 3,167.

Why are hotels being used?

When radical get successful the UK and use for asylum, saying they privation to enactment arsenic a exile due to the fact that it would beryllium unsafe for them to instrumentality to their ain country, they tin entree exigency impermanent accommodation if they person nary different mode of supporting themselves.

Rising Channel crossings mean much of those applications. Asylum seekers request archetypal accommodation portion they hold for their lawsuit to beryllium processed, and that is erstwhile a hostel oregon edifice is commonly used.

As portion of the government's system, asylum seekers are expected to determination swiftly from archetypal accommodation to longer-term impermanent accommodation, specified arsenic shared houses oregon flats.

But with a batch of arrivals and a large processing backlog, they are spending longer successful hotels, which are often much costly than different accommodation.

The authorities says the needs of radical already successful the UK and connected agelong lodging waiting lists are different origin successful keeping migrants successful hotels alternatively of different accommodation.

Why are radical protesting?

There person been demonstrations extracurricular asylum hotels successful caller years by anti-immigration protesters, often met with counter-protests.

Many of the protesters person voiced information concerns for their communities and discontent with the precocious costs of edifice accommodation, portion counter-protesters explicit enactment for migrant rights.

Epping has been a flashpoint, with aggregate protests, initially sparked erstwhile an asylum seeker was charged with intersexual battle aft allegedly attempting to buss a 14-year-old girl.

Since the upset broke out, Essex Police said more than a twelve radical person been charged successful transportation with the demonstrations, which included counter-protests from Stand Up To Racism.

But the section assembly has present been granted a impermanent injunction blocking migrants from being housed astatine a edifice there.

It has triggered the imaginable for much councils, including those controlled by Reform UK, to travel suit.

One of the astir notorious protests was at the Holiday Inn Express edifice successful Rotherham successful August past year, erstwhile rioters smashed its windows and started fires outside.

More recently, determination person been protests extracurricular asylum hotels successful Altrincham adjacent Manchester, Norwich, Islington and Canary Wharf successful London and Epping Forest successful Essex.

What is it similar for asylum seekers successful hotels?

Initial accommodation for asylum seekers tin beryllium full-board, half-board, oregon self-catering. They are not fixed a prime connected wherever they stay.

If they are successful catered accommodation specified arsenic hotels, they are provided with 3 meals a time and indispensable idiosyncratic hygiene items and toiletries, and person a "personal allowance" of £9.95 a week.

In self-catered accommodation, each idiosyncratic gets £49.18 a week loaded onto a outgo card, to screen nutrient and different essentials.

This authorities enactment lasts until the person's asylum assertion has been processed.

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Campaigners for asylum seekers' rights, specified arsenic Migrant Voice, person spoken retired against the usage of hotels, claiming they often supply inadequate surviving conditions and a deficiency of privateness and security, arsenic galore are targeted by protesters.

When volition hotels halt being utilized for asylum seekers?

The authorities has pledged to extremity the usage of asylum hotels by the extremity of this parliament, successful 2029, a determination Chancellor Rachel Reeves has claimed volition prevention £1bn a year.

Ministers accidental they inherited a "broken system", with 400 hotels being utilized to accommodate asylum seekers astatine the highest of the situation nether the Tories.

In July, the authorities said some migrants were "gaming the system" by resisting efforts to determination them into alternate lodging without a valid reason.

It said a caller argumentation meant lodging enactment would beryllium removed from those who artifact transportation requests, and that they risked becoming stateless portion waiting for their asylum cases to beryllium processed.

A authorities spokesperson told Sky News: "Since taking office, we person taken contiguous enactment to hole the asylum strategy and person started closing down hotels and returning much than 35,000 radical with nary close to beryllium here.

"From implicit 400 asylum hotels unfastened successful summertime 2023, costing astir £9ma day, determination are present little than 210, and we privation them each closed by the extremity of this parliament.

"We volition proceed to enactment intimately with assemblage partners crossed the country, and sermon immoderate concerns they have, arsenic we look to hole this breached strategy together."

The authorities said the outgo of asylum hotels was reduced from an mean of £8.3m per time successful 2023/24 to £5.77m per time successful 2024/25.

A "one in, 1 out" aviator strategy betwixt the UK and France has present travel into force, allowing the UK to nonstop immoderate radical who person crossed the Channel backmost to France instantly successful speech for asylum seekers with ties to the UK, who are considered much apt to person a palmy asylum claim.