What does the pledge mean? 

Asylum seekers (people awaiting a decision on an asylum application) who are destitute can apply to receive support from the government, including accommodation. People who apply for asylum support are housed in initial accommodation while their application is considered, and if their application for asylum support is granted, they are placed in dispersal accommodation until a final decision is made on their asylum claim.

Due to an increased number of asylum seekers awaiting a decision on their application in the UK in recent years, the government has had to use ‘contingency’ asylum accommodation in order to meet its obligation to provide housing for those who require it. This has primarily involved the use of hotels, although some asylum seekers have been housed in other types of contingency accommodation, including the Bibby Stockholm barge and in former military barracks.

A report published by the National Audit Office in March 2024 found that the Home Office was forecast to spend £3.1 billion on asylum hotels in 2023/24—approximately two-thirds of its total spending on asylum support.

Labour has not set out a specific timeframe to achieve this pledge, and the Home Office did not offer one when we asked, so we’re assuming the government aims to deliver it by the end of this parliament. 

The Home Office routinely publishes quarterly data showing the number of asylum seekers in hotels, but not the number of hotels in use or their associated costs. Given this, it’s unclear how the government intends to provide updates on progress towards this pledge (the Home Office did not provide any specific figures when we asked for an update in early November). 

What progress has been made?

We’re currently rating this pledge as “appears off track”, because both the number of hotels used to house asylum seekers and the number of asylum seekers housed in hotels have increased since Labour came into government in July.

On 20 November 2024 Dame Angela Eagle MP, minister for border security and asylum, confirmed that 220 hotels were currently in use, compared to 213 at the time of the general election (on 4 July 2024). She added that in that period 14 new hotels had opened, and seven had shut.

At the end of June 2024 a total of 29,585 asylum seekers were being housed in contingency accommodation in hotels (approximately 29% of all asylum seekers being housed by the government). And figures published on 28 November 2024 show that by the end of September 2024 that figure had increased to 35,651 (approximately 33% of all those in receipt of support by the government)—meaning the number of asylum seekers housed in hotels increased by approximately 21% during Labour’s first three months in government.

On coming into government Labour made changes to the Illegal Migration Act 2023 to allow a group of asylum applications which could not previously be processed to begin being dealt with, in order to “clear the backlog and end asylum hotels”.

Ms Eagle said on 20 November 2024: “It remains our ambition to exit hotels; however, in the nearest future, they remain key to delivering on our legal responsibilities in ensuring people are not left destitute.”

The Home Office has not directly confirmed how much it estimates closing asylum hotels will reduce overall asylum support costs by, but told us in October 2024 that clearing the asylum backlog will save an estimated £7 billion over the next ten years.