A new report accuses the UK Home Office of wasting over £15 billion on flawed asylum accommodation contracts, as MPs demand accountability and vow to end hotel use by 2029.

The Home Office has been accused of wasting billions of pounds on asylum accommodation after relying heavily on hotels to house migrants, according to a damning new report by the Home Affairs Committee, News.Az reports, citing BBC.

MPs said “flawed contracts” and “incompetent delivery” left the department unable to handle rising demand, forcing it to depend on hotels as long-term housing rather than temporary solutions.

The committee’s report revealed that expected costs for hotel accommodation from 2019 to 2029 have tripled from £4.5 billion to £15.3 billion. It also found that two major accommodation providers still owe millions in excess profits that the Home Office has failed to recover.

Committee chair Dame Karen Bradley said the department had shown “failures of leadership” and “neglected the day-to-day management” of contracts, focusing instead on short-term, reactive responses.

“The Home Office has not been up to the challenge,” the report concluded, citing poor oversight and unaddressed safeguarding concerns in asylum housing.

A Home Office spokesperson defended the government’s record, saying:

“We are furious about the number of illegal migrants in hotels. We’ve already closed several sites, cut asylum costs by nearly £1 billion, and are exploring the use of military bases and disused properties.”

The government has pledged to end the use of asylum hotels by 2029, with officials blaming external factors such as the pandemic, the rise in small boat arrivals, and delays caused by the Rwanda deportation plan.

Protests over asylum hotels have erupted in several parts of the UK this year — including in Epping, where residents demonstrated after an asylum seeker housed at The Bell Hotel was charged with sexual assault.

News.Az