{
  "source": "National Audit Office — Home Office's Asylum Accommodation Contracts (7 May 2025, HC 874); Home Office Asylum Statistics; Migration Observatory",
  "headline": {
    "total_asylum_support_spend_2024_25_bn": 4.0,
    "hotel_spend_2024_25_bn": 2.1,
    "hotel_share_of_contract_cost_pct": 76,
    "hotel_share_of_people_pct": 35,
    "cost_per_night_hotel": 170,
    "cost_per_night_dispersal": 27,
    "cost_per_night_dispersal_inc_cash": 34,
    "original_contract_estimate_bn": 4.5,
    "current_forecast_bn": 15.3,
    "overrun_multiplier": 3.4,
    "contract_term_years": 10,
    "contract_start": 2019,
    "contract_end": 2029
  },
  "people_in_accommodation": {
    "date": "September 2025",
    "total_ho_accommodation": 111651,
    "in_hotels_contingency": 36273,
    "in_dispersal_housing": 70000,
    "other": 5378,
    "hotel_pct": 32,
    "note": "Hotels were opened as 'contingency' emergency accommodation in 2020 during COVID-19 when dispersal housing became unavailable. They were never closed. The government committed to ending hotel use by 2025 but remained dependent on them."
  },
  "contractors": {
    "note": "Three main contractors hold the Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts (AASC), awarded in 2019.",
    "providers": [
      {
        "name": "Clearsprings Ready Homes",
        "region": "South of England and Wales",
        "type": "Private company",
        "note": "Largest AASC contractor by geography. Operated the first asylum hotels including Manston and various southern hotels."
      },
      {
        "name": "Serco",
        "region": "North of England and Midlands",
        "type": "FTSE-250 listed public services company",
        "note": "Also operates immigration detention centres (Brook House, Yarl's Wood). Reported significant profits from asylum accommodation contracts."
      },
      {
        "name": "Mears Group",
        "region": "Scotland and Northern Ireland",
        "type": "FTSE-250 listed housing and care company",
        "note": "Primarily operates dispersal housing rather than hotels in its regions."
      }
    ]
  },
  "regional_distribution": {
    "date": "December 2025",
    "source": "Home Office Asylum Statistics",
    "regions": [
      {"region": "North West", "pct": 20},
      {"region": "Yorkshire & Humber", "pct": 12},
      {"region": "West Midlands", "pct": 11},
      {"region": "South East", "pct": 10},
      {"region": "London", "pct": 9},
      {"region": "East Midlands", "pct": 8},
      {"region": "South West", "pct": 7},
      {"region": "East of England", "pct": 7},
      {"region": "North East", "pct": 6},
      {"region": "Scotland", "pct": 5},
      {"region": "Wales", "pct": 4},
      {"region": "Other", "pct": 1}
    ],
    "note": "North West hosts the largest share (20%) partly reflecting Serco's dispersal housing stock in Manchester, Liverpool and surrounding areas. London's share has fallen significantly since the shift to regional dispersal."
  },
  "cost_comparison": {
    "cost_per_person_year_hotel": 62050,
    "cost_per_person_year_dispersal": 9855,
    "enforced_removal_cost": 48800,
    "insight": "Housing an asylum seeker in a hotel for one year (£62,050) costs more than enforcing their removal (£48,800). Housing them in dispersal accommodation (£9,855/year) is substantially cheaper than either. This comparison is approximate and excludes legal processing costs in both cases.",
    "source": "Home Office (removal cost, March 2026); NAO (accommodation cost, May 2025)"
  },
  "historical_context": {
    "hotel_use_start": 2020,
    "original_purpose": "Emergency contingency during COVID-19 when shared dispersal housing was considered unsafe",
    "first_hotel_contract": "Napier Barracks (converted military site, 2020)",
    "why_hotels_persist": [
      "Shortage of available dispersal housing in local authority areas",
      "Local authority resistance to accepting dispersal allocations",
      "Insufficient processing speed to move asylum seekers through the system quickly",
      "Rising asylum application numbers meaning more people need accommodation at any one time",
      "Contractor profit incentives: hotels earn substantially more per person than dispersal housing"
    ],
    "government_targets_missed": "The Conservative government set a target of ending hotel use by December 2024. It was not met. The Labour government has also committed to reducing hotel dependence but as of September 2025, 36,273 people remained in hotels."
  },
  "additional_costs": {
    "section_95_cash_support_weekly": 49.18,
    "section_95_recipients_2025": 111651,
    "annual_cash_support_estimate_m": 285,
    "nhs_treatment_note": "Asylum seekers are entitled to free NHS treatment from the point of claim. Specific healthcare costs are not separately attributed by the Home Office but are included in the broader NHS budget.",
    "local_authority_costs": "Local authorities bear costs for safeguarding children of asylum seekers, SEND education provision, social care, and integration support. These costs are partly reimbursed by central government but local authorities report significant underfunding of actual costs.",
    "education_note": "Children of asylum seekers are entitled to a school place. The DfE provides a £1,025 per-pupil supplement for EAL (English as Additional Language) pupils, but schools in high-dispersal areas report this does not cover actual costs."
  }
}