A MAP has revealed the number of asylum seekers living in hotels in each UK council.
Data released today showed that 32,059 migrants were living in taxpayer-funded hotels as of June this year, up eight per cent over the past year.
AlamyThe Government spent an estimated £1.3 billion housing asylum seekers in hotels in the year to March 2025[/caption]
While data has not been released on the number of hotels in use, Labour says there are less than 210 being used, down from the more than 400 that were being utilised in summer 2023.
The local authority housing the highest number of asylum seekers in June was Hillingdon in west London, with 2,238 people staying in hotels.
Hounslow, also in west London, housed the second highest number of hotel migrants, with 1,536 staying in the area as of the end of June.
Manchester had the highest number of asylum seekers outside of London, with 1,158 living in hotels.
The vast majority of councils had no migrants housed in hotels.
Other data published today revealed government spending on asylum in the UK fell to £4.76 billion in the year ending March 2025.
This marks a 12 per cent decline from a record £5.38 billion the year prior.
The totals represent Home Office costs related to asylum, including direct cash support and accommodation such as hotels but not costs relating to intercepting migrants crossing the English Channel.
In all, roughly 0.37 per cent of total government spending in the year 2024-25 was related to asylum.
While specific costs for hotels have not been published, a report from public spending watchdog the National Audit Office earlier this year found housing asylum seekers in hotels accounted for around 76 per cent of annual costs for asylum accommodation and support contracts.
That amounts to around £1.3 billion of an estimated £1.7 billion in 2024/25.
The Home Office has a legal obligation to provide accommodation to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute.
So, when there is not enough housing, the department moves asylum seekers from temporary accommodation to alternatives such as hotels and large sites, like former military bases.
This comes after Home Office data released this morning showed 111,000 people claimed asylum in the year ending June 2025, up 14 per cent on last year.
It is higher than the previous recorded peak of 103,000 which was set in 2002.
The number of people claiming asylum in the UK has almost doubled since 2021.
And just under half of all those applying for protection in the UK are granted it at the initial decision stage – 48 per cent.
It is lower than in 2022 when 77 per cent of those applying were given the green light.
It comes just after Epping Forest District Council this week won its bid to block asylum seekers being housed there.
The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, has been at the centre of anti-immigration demonstrations after one of its guests was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
The owners of the hotel have now been ordered to remove migrants from the site before September 12, inspiring other councils to say they will pursue similar legal challenges.
Labour’s plan must show results… and fast
By JACK ELSOM, Political Editor
LABOUR Ministers can insist they are getting a grip on illegal migration until they are blue in the face – but the numbers speak for themselves.
We already knew that Channel crossings are up around 50 per cent since Sir Keir Starmer came into power last year on a promise to “smash the gangs”.
Today’s damning statistics will only add to public fury over the small boats crisis, with asylum claims at a record high and hotel use up 8 per cent.
Even the PM’s flagship boast to have ramped up deportations seems hollow when you drill into the numbers.
Yes, removals have increased, but the vast majority are migrants leaving this country voluntarily, often with a sum of taxpayer cash to send them on their way.
Returns of small boat migrants have actually DECREASED by seven per cent in the past year.
Inside Yvette Cooper’s Home Office there is fury that the Tories are seizing on their migration woes having left them with a right old mess.
The Conservatives are far from blameless, especially given the mind-bending figure that just 4 per cent of small boat arrivals have been returned since 2018.
But frenzied Labour attempts to point the finger at the last lot will not wash with voters demanding action.
Sir Keir and his ministers knew the problem they would be inheriting, and told Brits they had a plan to fix it.
That plan needs to start showing some results, and fast.
AlamyMore than 32,000 asylum seekers are currently being housed in hotels in the UK[/caption]
AlamyProtests have emerged outside some hotels which are housing migrants[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
