Private firms profiting from asylum hotels, BBC learns

Private firms are making accrued profits arsenic the authorities pays millions of pounds a time to enactment up asylum seekers successful the UK, the BBC has learned.

BBC News has been told 395 hotels are being utilized to location asylum seekers, arsenic arrivals to the UK roseate past year.

At the aforesaid time, documents amusement 1 booking agency, which finds hotels for the Home Office, trebled its pre-tax profits from £2.1m to £6.3m.

The Home Office says the asylum strategy is nether "incredible strain".

The authorities has ne'er publically confirmed the fig of hotels involved, but a authorities root told BBC News it is present utilizing 395 to accommodate much than 51,000 asylum seekers, astatine a outgo of much than £6m a day.

Of those hotels, 363 are successful England, 20 successful Northern Ireland, 10 successful Scotland and 2 successful Wales.

It means Northern Ireland and England person acold much hotels lodging asylum seekers per caput of colonisation than Scotland and Wales.

The usage of hotels has accrued exponentially arsenic the fig of radical claiming asylum successful the UK has increased, reaching a adjacent 20-year precocious past year.

Small vessel arrivals, accounting for astir 45% of asylum applications successful 2022, were besides astatine grounds levels and the backlog of asylum cases present amounts to astir 166,000 people.

Because of a deficiency of different suitable accommodation, asylum seekers are housed successful hotels, which are often taken implicit by the authorities with lone a fewer days' notice.

The BBC has been told existing bookings astatine immoderate hotels, including concern conferences and weddings, person been cancelled astatine abbreviated notice.

Hotel owners are approached to manus implicit their properties to outsourced companies, which tally the concern connected behalf of the Home Office.

Three ample firms person contracts to tally the hotels.

One, Serco, provides immoderate 109 hotels successful England, according to a High Court judgement from December 2022, mostly successful the Midlands, East and North West.

Serco, which besides provides different services connected behalf of the government, references "growth" successful its migration enactment successful its 2022 yearly report.

Another firm, Mears Group, which tribunal documents revealed is moving 80 hotels successful north-east England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, accrued its yearly gross by 22% successful 2021.

The company's yearly study said the summation was "largely driven" by its enactment uncovering edifice accommodation for asylum seekers.

Home Office spending information shows a smaller firm, Calder Conferences, received £20.6m successful 2021 to publication hotels. That fig accrued to £97m successful 2022.

Home Office sources suggested this enactment related principally to uncovering bridging hotels for Afghan refugees who arrived pursuing the Taliban takeover successful 2021.

Leeds-based Calder's yearly accounts for the twelvemonth ending February 2022 amusement turnover accrued from £5.98m to £23.66m. The firm's pre-tax profits trebled, from £2.1m to £6.3m.

Calder's director, Debbie Hoban, saw her yearly remuneration summation from £230,000 to £2.2m.

The steadfast has not responded to the BBC's petition for comment.

The prime of hotels appears indiscriminate. BBC investigation recovered contracts with ones astatine airports, play courses, state houses, the seaside, and immoderate utilized for metropolis concern workers.

Some towns, Swindon for example, person much than 1 edifice lodging asylum seekers, others person none.

UK authorities sources kick that Scotland's authorities has actively blocked hotels being booked for asylum seekers successful the country, though the Scottish authorities has denied it has specified powers.

Communities person spoken of their choler astir the deficiency of consultation earlier asylum seekers moved in. There person been immoderate protests, with far-right elements involved.

At the Wiltshire Leisure Village, a status analyzable adjacent Royal Wootton Bassett, asylum seekers person been housed astatine a adjacent edifice and fences erected, meaning residents of the leisure colony bash not person entree to the play course.

Fredricka Reynolds, a florist, mislaid her regular enactment for a edifice successful Kegworth, Leicestershire, erstwhile asylum seekers moved successful past month.

She said: "They rang maine connected the Thursday, earlier the asylum seekers came connected the Monday and cancelled each my weddings for the foreseeable [future]."

The edifice is simply a large portion of beingness for the colony of astir 4,000 people. Its swimming excavation and gym, utilized by section people, person been closed.

"I recognize they request housing, but past besides wherefore Kegworth? Why the main concern successful Kegworth that brings galore radical to the village, a batch of wealth into the village? It's each gone now," said Ms Reynolds.

Security guards often halt journalists approaching the asylum seekers, but 2 men surviving successful the Wiltshire edifice spoke of their boredom.

Simpay Khalifa, a 25-year-old Sundanese antheral who arrived by tiny vessel from France successful November, said the edifice was "far from civilisation".

"There is thing to bash actually. We person to instrumentality a autobus to get to Swindon. We request thing to bash like, for example, survey immoderate English courses," helium said.

"Some radical unpaid and bash immoderate foundation work, but determination is thing to bash here. Nothing. We enactment the full time astatine the country doing nothing."

The BBC utilized Freedom of Information requests to inquire each UK councils however galore hotels were being utilized for asylum seekers and however galore individuals were surviving successful them.

Of the 398 councils approached, 320 responded. The bulk said determination were nary hotels oregon asylum seekers successful their area, oregon referred the BBC to the Home Office.

One authorization refused the petition connected the grounds it could pb to asylum seekers being exposed to "harassment, threats and carnal oregon intelligence harm".

However, different assembly not lone provided the fig of hotels and individuals, but the code of a hotel.

A Home Office spokesperson said the authorities was "committed to making each effort to trim edifice usage and bounds the load connected the taxpayer".

Additional reporting by Sam Francis and Rob England