Asylum seekers to be hit with £10,000 invoice as radical shake-up unveiled
Shabana Mahmood will set out her controversial Immigration and Asylum Bill – arguing asylum seekers should contribute to the cost of their support, a move charities have voiced their outrage over
Shabana Mahmood will unveil plans to slap asylum seekers with a £10,000 bill (Image: Thomas Krych/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock)
Asylum seekers will be slapped with a £10,000 bill to pay for their accommodation under a radical shake-up announced by Shabana Mahmood.
The Home Secretary will unveil legislation on Tuesday setting out a flat-rate charge to cover the cost of housing and supporting them while their claims are decided. Under the plan, the means-tested sum will have to be paid off before a person can be awarded full settlement rights.
But critics have dismissed the move as “simply more performative cruelty” and said it is unfair to people fleeing persecution into debt. It comes as Ms Mahmood announces the biggest overhaul of the asylum system in a generation, with measures including replacing judges with members of the public to decide appeals.
Ms Mahmood’s Immigration and Asylum Bill will include new powers for the Home Office to claim back costs from adults who received asylum support. The bill, set to be put in front of MPs, comes amid pressure to close asylum hotels and bring down the asylum system.
The Home Secretary said: “The cost of asylum accommodation on the British taxpayer is too high. We have already reduced asylum costs by £1billion, but it is also right that we ask those who can contribute to do so.
“Receiving asylum support is a right, but it is also a responsibility. Once people can contribute and repay the generosity of the British people, we expect them to do so.”
It is expected that people will be required to make monthly payments until the ‘debt’ is settled. Officials are also looking at ways the tax and benefit system can be used to recover the sum.
Migrants who leave the UK will be required to pay the sum in full if they wish to return in future. At the moment the average cost per person is £23.25 per night in dispersal accommodation and £144 in hotels, Meanwhile subsistence payments range from £9.95 to £49.18 per person per week.
The Home Secretary will argue the change ensures those granted asylum will be able to make a contribution and repay some the generosity shown to them. A quarter of working age people granted asylum find work in the same calendar year as their claim is accepted, rising to 50% within two years of receiving refugee status, the Home Office said.
Over a third earn over £23,000 within eight years, figures show. Successful asylum seekers are granted refugee status, and under current rules are entitled to indefinite leave to remain (ILR) after five years. This means they are allowed to permanently settle in the UK.
Under Ms Mahmood’s proposals, those who have not paid off the £10,000 fee will be granted ILR – but they will not be ordered to leave the country.
Charities have voiced their outrage over the latest proposals. Zoe Dexter, housing and welfare manager at the Helen Bamber Foundation, said: “This proposal is simply more performative cruelty from the government.”
She continued: “These are people who have fled persecution and extreme violence, often arriving with nothing, before spending months or years in overcrowded, dilapidated accommodation, sometimes facing intimidation and violent protests outside the places they are housed. Burdening them with debt just as they begin rebuilding their lives is grossly unjust and entirely self-defeating.””
And Imran Hussain, director of external affairs at the Refugee Council, said: “The reason why many need asylum support is because the Home Office itself bans asylum seekers from working while their claims are being assessed. Asylum support is only given to people who are at risk of being destitute, so this new financial burden would only harm those who arrive on our shores with nothing.”
Ms Mahmood’s legislation, to be put in front of Parliament on Tuesday, will include a new Independent Immigration Appeals Authority (IIAA) – which will take responsibility for deciding appeals away from judges.
Ms Mahmood said the appeals tribunal system is currently overwhelmed, and changes to rules will prevent people “gaming the system”. Alongside the measures, the Home Secretary will announce a new safe route allowing employers to sponsor refugees coming to the UK.
She said: “I will open new legal routes for genuine refugees, while closing loopholes that have been too often abused. My goal is simple: to ensure we have an asylum system not just today, but for generations to come.”
Last week, the Home Office announced plans to ramp up use of ex-military barracks to house asylum seekers. This will include MOD Bicester in Oxfordshire, RAF Barnham in Suffolk and RAF Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire.
Ministers also plan to extend the use of existing asylum sites in Crowborough until 2030 and Wethersfield beyond 2027.
