Asylum websites to be expanded as ministers bid to finish resort use
Giant asylum seeker websites like Wethersfield air base in Essex are set to be expanded beneath plans to finish the usage of asylum resorts, the BBC can reveal.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves pledged to cease utilizing taxpayer-funded resorts by 2029 in her Spending Evaluate, saying this is able to save £1bn.
One of many methods the Residence Workplace hopes to attain that is by transferring asylum seekers from resorts into cheaper different types of lodging.
Sir Keir Starmer pledged to shut the Wethersfield asylum facility throughout final yr’s election marketing campaign, however the BBC understands that web site and one other in Huddersfield are amongst these into consideration for extensions.
A Residence Workplace spokesperson mentioned the federal government was “making sturdy strides to ship a extra sustainable and cost-effective asylum lodging system”.
“This contains ending the usage of resorts, testing new locally-led fashions, and dealing intently with native authorities and different departments to make sure a fairer, extra environment friendly strategy,” they added.
“Our use of any property or Residence Workplace-owned web site shall be used according to the permissions set by planning permissions.”
The taxpayer price of asylum resorts has rocketed lately, with complete lodging contracts now set to be value £15.3bn over a 10-year interval.
However whereas extending massive websites could be cheaper, the transfer is more likely to anger native residents and refugee rights teams.
In April final yr, Residence Secretary Yvette Cooper mentioned the Wethersfield web site could not be “seen as both a sustainable resolution for housing asylum seekers nor worth for cash for the taxpayer”.
Conservative MP Sir James Cleverly, whose Braintree constituency contains Wethersfield, mentioned the present cap on the variety of individuals dwelling on the facility “was there to guard the protection and safety” of constituents, and “these working at and dwelling on the location”.
Sir James, who turned house secretary shortly after the primary asylum seekers moved into Wethersfield, mentioned the federal government plan to probably broaden the location was “disgraceful and exhibits simply how out of contact they’re with the considerations of native communities”.
In March, the Excessive Court docket discovered the earlier Conservative authorities’s use of Wethersfield to deal with asylum seekers was illegal, after three males argued they have been dwelling in “prison-like” circumstances.
The previous RAF base has been housing asylum seekers since 2023. It has a present capability of 800, however is believed to deal with nearer to 500 individuals at current.
The Residence Workplace contract for the bottom is held by Clearsprings, whose founder Graham King lately turned a billionaire, based on the Sunday Occasions wealthy listing.
The Helen Bamber Basis, a human rights teams, has beforehand mentioned that accommodating individuals on the base causes hurt to their bodily and psychological well being.
Kamena Dorling, the group’s director of coverage, informed the BBC that Wethersfield “ought to be closed instantly, not prolonged”.
She mentioned: “Housing individuals, together with survivors of torture and trafficking, in an remoted, overcrowded camp paying homage to an open-air jail, with insufficient healthcare and authorized providers, is an inhumane strategy to deal with these in search of safety.”
A pair of former pupil lodging blocks in Huddersfield, acquired by the Residence Workplace final yr, is also prolonged.
The buildings, constructed in 2019, have a present capability of 650 however have by no means been occupied due to security considerations.
Any extensions to asylum seeker lodging could be paid for utilizing cash earmarked for funding from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Native Authorities, which means it may very well be borrowed with out falling foul of the chancellor’s strict spending guidelines.
Residence Workplace figures launched final month present that as of March, there have been about 100,000 asylum seekers in government-funded lodging, with about 32,000 of these in resorts.
Cooper hopes to finish the usage of resorts by lowering small boat crossings, dashing up the asylum utility course of and transferring individuals into different lodging.
Following the chancellor’s Spending Evaluate, there had been some confusion over what that different lodging could be.
Chief secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones informed BBC Newsnight the federal government could be “upgrading present services, which is able to embrace some extensions”.
However on Thursday, the prime minister’s official spokesman refused to touch upon whether or not new lodging could be constructed.
A senior Residence Workplace supply has now confirmed to the BBC that whereas there have been no plans for solely new lodging blocks, extensions of present services shall be constructed and different present lodging resembling unused pupil blocks shall be rented.
The £1bn saving which the chancellor mentioned would come from lowering resort use has already been taken out of the Residence Workplace finances.
The Residence Workplace has a brand new goal for a way a lot extra asylum lodging must be created to assist obtain the saving, however that actual determine is unknown.
The BBC understands that transferring round 14,000 asylum seekers from resorts into different types of lodging would seemingly obtain a saving of £1bn.
A senior Residence Workplace supply mentioned they have been “assured” they might save the required cash, however acknowledged that failing to hit the goal would drive the division to ask Reeves for extra funding to keep away from having to make cuts elsewhere.
The variety of asylum seekers in resorts is way decrease than the file determine in 2023, however has elevated since Labour got here to energy final yr.
The most recent statistics go as much as March and due to this fact do not keep in mind the knock-on impact of elevated small boat crossings within the months since.
