Home Office gives council £175k to cover cost of accommodating asylum seekers in hotel

On Thursday the district council’s cabinet was asked to give permission to spend £175,500 funding allocated to the authority by the Home Office in relation to the costs associated with the operation of the hotel and dispersed accommodation housing asylum seekers in the area.

A report to the cabinet said: “Costs have been incurred across several areas of the council and this funding will be used to reimburse those areas.

“Funding has been allocated based on the number of residents in the hotel at the end of March 2023. It should be noted that the number fluctuates on a weekly basis and as people get decisions, their bedspaces are backfilled, so the number of people going through the hotel is more than 234.

“Expenditure has been incurred across several areas of the council because of the hotel operating in the area. The community safety and partnerships team have worked closely with Serco who manage the hotel to ensure the safety of those staying there.

“There has been a cross service approach to working with the voluntary sector to set up diversionary activities and, when asylum seekers get a positive asylum decision, the local authority has a statutory duty to provide housing advice, support and in some cases temporary accommodation for the refugees. The housing options team have worked with the hotel to provide that support and guidance.

“The Home Office have increased the speed of decision making for asylum applications, so the council are seeing more people in need of housing advice and assistance as they move on from the hotel. To date this hasn’t translated into a requirement for temporary accommodation, but each case has to be assessed on its individual merits.

“If more people start to trigger this duty, then costs incurred by the council will increase. Providing housing advice and guidance and taking statutory homeless applications can be a lengthy process and work is currently underway to understand whether further resource is required in the housing options team to cover this additional work.”