The subject of asylum seekers being housed in hotels has come into sharp focus after a High Court ruling.
On Tuesday, Epping Forest District Council was granted a temporary injunction blocking asylum seekers from being housed at the Bell Hotel in the Essex town.
Here, the PA news agency takes a look at the latest overall data.
– How many asylum seekers are in hotels across the UK?
The most recent Home Office data showed there were 32,345 asylum seekers being housed temporarily in UK hotels at the end of March.
This was down 15% from the end of December, when the total was 38,079.
New figures – published among the usual quarterly immigration data release – are expected on Thursday, showing numbers in hotels at the end of June.
Figures for hotels published by the Home Office date back to December 2022 and showed numbers hit a peak at the end of September 2023 when there were 56,042 asylum seekers in hotels.
– How many hotels are in use for asylum seekers?
It is thought there were more than 400 asylum hotels open in summer 2023.
Labour said this has since been reduced to fewer than 210.
– Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation, known as contingency accommodation, if they are awaiting assessment of their claim or have had a claim approved and there is not enough longer-term accommodation available.
The Home Office provides accommodation to asylum seekers who have no other way of supporting themselves on a “no choice” basis, so they cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to accommodation such as hotels and large sites, like former military bases.
In May, the National Audit Office said those temporarily living in hotels accounted for 35% of all people in asylum accommodation.
– Is this likely to be a permanent arrangement?
Labour has pledged to end the “costly use of hotels to house asylum seekers in this Parliament” – which would be 2029, if not earlier.
Campaigners and charities have long argued that hotels are not suitable environments to house asylum seekers.
The Refugee Council said they “cost the taxpayer billions, trap people in limbo and are flashpoints in communities” and urged the Government to “partner with local councils to provide safe, cost-effective accommodation within communities”.
– What is the Government saying since the legal ruling?
Ministers are “looking at a range of different contingency options” following Tuesday’s ruling, according to security minister Dan Jarvis
In the immediate aftermath of the judgment, border security minister Dame Angela Eagle repeated criticism of the previous Conservative government, saying Labour had “inherited a broken asylum system”.
She said the Government would “continue working with local authorities and communities to address legitimate concerns” around asylum hotels.
– What options does the Home Office have now?
Last month, amid protests outside the Bell Hotel and more migrants crossing the Channel, an extra 400 spaces were being prepared to house male asylum seekers at RAF Wethersfield in Essex.
The former military site, which has a usual capacity of 800 beds, is expected to house more adult men on a short-term basis.
The Labour Government scrapped the large site of the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland, Dorset, earlier this year, while Napier Barracks in Folkestone, Kent, is also due to end housing asylum seekers and be returned to the Ministry of Defence in September.
– Why were there protests outside the Bell Hotel?
The hotel in Epping has been at the centre of a series of protests in recent weeks after an asylum seeker who was staying there was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl – something he has denied and he is due to stand trial later in August.
After the High Court’s ruling, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage wrote in the Telegraph calling for Epping protests to inspire further action wherever there are concerns about the “threat posed by young undocumented males” living in hotels.
But on Tuesday more than 100 women’s organisations wrote to ministers warning that vital conversations about violence against women and girls are being “hijacked by an anti-migrant agenda” that fuels divisions and harms survivors.
The joint statement, including from Rape Crisis England & Wales and Refuge, said: “We have been alarmed in recent weeks by an increase in unfounded claims made by people in power, and repeated in the media, that hold particular groups as primarily responsible for sexual violence.
“This not only undermines genuine concerns about women’s safety, but also reinforces the damaging myth that the greatest risk of gender-based violence comes from strangers.”
