NGOs and refugee charities from across the UK have come together to write an open letter to the Prime Minister, calling for the UK Government to end the use of hotels for housing asylum seekers as soon as possible, and stop using the UK aid budget to cover these costs.
Among the 107 signatories to the letter are SIDA members including Save the Children UK, WaterAid, Tearfund and Firefly International, alongside refugee support groups such as the Refugee Council, Refugee Action and the Asylum Reform Initiative. SIDA’s Chief Executive, Frances Guy, has also added her name.
The UK Government’s recent decision to cut its aid budget from 0.5% GNI to 0.3%, to fund an increase in defence spending, means that if high levels of UK aid continue to be spent on asylum accommodation costs in the UK, the budget will be stretched even further, leaving even less for vital development and humanitarian programmes. The letter argues that asylum seekers must be supported, but this funding should come from the Home Office budget rather than being diverted from the limited UK aid budget.
The letter highlights that “the reliance on extremely expensive and unsuitable hotel accommodation, resulted in the asylum system costing more and more money” and refers to the government’s latest provisional Statistics for International Development for 2024 which reveal that 20% (£2.8bn) of the UK’s aid budget continues to be spent supporting refugees and asylum seekers domestically.
The letter calls for the government to find more cost-effective solutions to house asylum seekers and refugees, recommending that they scale up “the use of more cost-effective and appropriate community housing for asylum seekers by giving local authorities responsibility and resources to accommodate people seeking asylum, rather than private companies.”
The signatories call on the government to utilise the 2026 break clauses in the hotel contracts to achieve this.
Polling shows that 80% of the British public want an approach to the asylum system that is well managed, fair and compassionate. However, this cannot justifiably be counted as UK aid spending. The letter also highlights that “poverty, conflict, and climate change are key drivers of displacement” and “spending increasingly finite UK aid resources domestically rather than on these core areas undermines the UK’s efforts to prevent displacement.”
Frances Guy, SIDA’s Chief Executive, said:
“The human rights and basic needs of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK must be supported, but this should not and does not have to be at the expense of efforts to tackle poverty and injustice elsewhere. The UK Government is spending billions each year on expensive hotel contracts, which if spent instead on supporting marginalised communities in the majority world could perhaps prevent population displacement in the first place.
“We support the calls from aid agencies and refugee groups across the UK calling on the government to reduce the amount of UK aid spent on inflated hotel contracts, and ensure that funds can be put back into the international aid budget.”
Imran Hussain, Executive Director of External Affairs at the Refugee Council, said:
“It is vitally important overseas aid is used as it was always supposed to be used – to support people in need around the world. This is fundamental for making the world a safer, more secure place. It is also key for preventing people from becoming forcibly displaced from their homes and in search of safety in other countries, including Britain.
“Poor policy decisions and mismanagement of the asylum system have led to costs spiralling. The most effective way to take costs out of the system is by working quickly and fairly to determine who is a refugee and who has no right to stay here. Get that right, and the accommodation costs will fall.”
The text of the letter and more information on signatories can be found at on the Bond website.