BILLIONS have been wasted on migrant hotels owing to catastrophic mismanagement by the Home Office, MPs have found.
Their damning report lays bare what it calls “unsustainable” pressures placed on communities when asylum accommodation is foisted upon them — often at short notice.
And it says officials have bungled efforts to recoup eye-watering sums handed to private providers who have raked in excessive profits.
In a stark message to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, the Home Affairs Select Committee demands ministers use break clauses in the contracts next year to “draw a line under the current failed, chaotic and expensive system”.
Its report states: “The Home Office has undoubtedly been operating in an extremely challenging environment, but its chaotic response has demonstrated that it has not been up to the challenge.”
MPs are scathing at how projected migrant accommodation spending between 2019-29 has tripled from £4.5billion to £15.3billion.
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It reflects how hotels shifted from “a temporary stop-gap to the go-to solution” — with 32,059 migrants in them as of June.
The Home Office seems to have neglected the day-to-day management of these contracts, failing to protect value for money for the taxpayer.
MPs’ report
Two in three asylum-seekers in London are housed in hotels. They are also particularly concentrated in deprived and urban areas of the North and Midlands.
The report warns that communities with migrant hotels or a large number of asylum housing continue to experience pressures on services.
And it says the sight of asylum seekers hanging around outside their hotels creates tension.
The MPs’ report highlights poor oversight of the handful of providers given accommodation contracts.
It says: “The Home Office seems to have neglected the day-to-day management of these contracts, failing to protect value for money for the taxpayer.”
Since 2019 these providers have earned £383million, with two even exceeding the profit threshold in their contracts.
But the Home Office has so far failed to retrieve the sums from Mears Group and Clearsprings.
The report says: “This money should be supporting the delivery of public services, not sitting in the bank accounts of private businesses.”
‘Cost taxpayers billions’
Chairwoman Dame Karen Bradley said last night: “The Home Office has presided over a failing asylum accommodation system that has cost taxpayers billions.
“Its response to increasing demand has been rushed and chaotic.”
The Home Office said: “We have already taken action — closing hotels, slashing asylum costs by nearly a billion pounds and exploring the use of military bases and disused properties.”