Private firms are making increased profits as the government pays millions of pounds a day to house asylum seekers in UK hotels, the BBC has learned. Documents show one booking agency trebled its pre-tax profits from £2.1m to £6.3m in the 12 months to February 2022.
The Home Office is now using 395 hotels to accommodate more than 51,000 asylum seekers at a cost of over £6m a day, a government source told the BBC. Of these, 363 are in England, 20 in Northern Ireland, 10 in Scotland and two in Wales. The use of hotels has increased as asylum applications reached a near 20-year high of 74,751 last year.
Small boat arrivals accounted for about 45% of asylum applications in 2022, and the backlog of asylum cases now stands at around 166,000 people. Hotels are often taken over with only a few days' notice, cancelling existing bookings for conferences and weddings.
Outsourced companies run the hotels on behalf of the Home Office. Serco provides some 109 hotels in England, while Mears Group runs 80 hotels in north-east England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Mears increased its annual revenue by 22% in 2021, largely driven by asylum accommodation work.
Calder Conferences received £20.6m from the Home Office in 2021, rising to £97m in 2022. The firm's turnover increased from £5.98m to £23.66m, and its director Debbie Hoban saw her annual remuneration rise from £230,000 to £2.2m. The Home Office says the asylum system is under 'incredible strain'.
Some communities have expressed anger over lack of consultation before asylum seekers moved in, with protests involving far-right elements. In Wiltshire, residents of a retirement complex lost access to a golf course after a nearby hotel was used for asylum seekers.
