The most common form of accommodation is the initial accommodation centres and then privately owned flats and houses.
Conditions in initial accommodation centres
The vast majority of initial accommodation is provided as “contingency accommodation” in hotels throughout the UK.[1] The locations and quality of these varies. At the end of January there were around 340 hotels in use after the Home Office stopped using around 60 hotels.[2] A room sharing policy means that people have to share a room and concerns have been raised about the effect on children[3] and LGBT+ people[4] in particular. Rooms are generally lockable, but the fact of sharing with a stranger removes some of the benefit and practicality of this.[5]
There is no guarantee that single people will be accommodated on single sex corridors; this is the practice in some centres but not in others. The Home Affairs Select Committee received several reports of women feeling unsafe and made strong recommendations in this regard. It was also critical of the conditions for pregnant women and new-born babies.[6]
The initial accommodation is supposed to be for a short stay (government advice is that it should usually be for 3-4 weeks) but in practice is for much longer than this. Asylum applicants staying at hotels are able to go outside at any time. If they are absent from their accommodation for 7 nights then their support may be stopped.[7]
There has been an increase in the use of institutional accommodation including repurposed military barracks, which has resulted in media attention.[8] The former Ministry of Defence sites are Napier barracks, Wethersfield,[9] Scampton,[10] and then at Portland Port there is the Bibby Stockholm which is a barge.[11]
The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration published a report into the use of contingency accommodation in July 2021, with the assistance of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons.[12] The Inspector raised four main issues: Failure to adequately consult local stakeholders, the inadequate health screening of those to be placed in the accommodation, communication with residents of the camps and poor employment and data protection practice. The government’s response[13] focused mainly on the need to set up the accommodation in haste and the improvements made since the sites were established.
Criticism of large-scale contingency accommodation continued, including from the NGO sector[14] and with the publicising of a visit by parliamentarians comprising the All-Party Parliamentary Group on detention.[15]
The Bibby Stockholm was a barge that was used as asylum accommodation for 15 months until its closure in November 2024.[16] It had capacity for around 500 people and the maximum length of stay is expected to be 9 months. The rooms had ensuite bathrooms, communal spaces, a canteen and a laundry.[17] The use of the Bibby Stockholm barge led to concerns being raised about the conditions the men are living in.[18] A man who was being accommodated on the barge died in December 2023.[19] An inquest into his death is due to begin in September 2025.[20]
Scampton was intended to have capacity for 800 people[21] But in 2024 it was announced that plans to use this site had been dropped.[22] Wethersfield was initially intended to accommodate 1,700 men for between six and nine months but in 2024 this was reduced to a maximum of 800 people, with the ability to increase this to 1,245 for short and defined periods of time if needed to deal with higher than forecast arrivals via small boat.[23] It is also now expected that the length of stay will be around nine months.[24] Concerns have been raised about the isolated location, detention-like setting, lack of privacy and shared facilities, and inadequate healthcare.[25]
In January 2024 Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors without Borders reported that they had started providing primary healthcare to men being accommodated at the RAF Wethersfield site, as there were concerns that the existing provision was inadequate.[26] In June 2024 they published a report asking for the site to be closed as a matter of urgency because of the severe mental health crises experienced by those at Wethersfield. The report said that over 74% of men accessing medical services at Wethersfield were presenting with severe psychological distress and 42% experienced suicidal ideation. The conditions at the site were said to be exacerbating these conditions. The healthcare provided on site does not appear to have experience or expertise in refugee healthcare.[27]
In October 2024 the ICIBI published another report on the use of contingency asylum accommodation. The Home Office was criticised for its lack of engagement with NGO stakeholders and those who live within the accommodation sites. In particular, it was highlighted that a lack of communication about the length of their stay has a negative impact on the mental health of those in large scale accommodation.[28]
In 2024 NGOs published reports on the use of hotels, including the negative mental health impact[29] and the impact on women specifically.[30] In summer 2024 29 anti-immigration riots took place[31], and these included the targeting of an asylum hotel with an arson attempt.[32] It has been reported that 51 people died in Home Office asylum accommodation in 2024.[33]
The Institute for Public Policy Research also published a report on asylum accommodation comparing the cost of hotels at £145 (EUR 174) per person per night to that of dispersal accommodation estimated at an average of £14 (17) per person per night. Despite costs going up, the report noted that quality had not improved, and people had spoken of unsanitary living conditions that compromised their health and well-being.[34]
There have been hundreds of complaints lodged about staff behaviour, the food and a lack of milk for children.[35] Over the period January to June 2024, 28 people died in asylum accommodation, including two babies and a 15-year-old boy.[36]
The matter of conditions in hotels continues to be raised in Parliament, with a debate taking place in January 2025 in the House of Lords.[37] The Joint Committee on Human Rights wrote to the Home Secretary in January 2025 asking for an update on the asylum seeking children who had gone missing from asylum hotels.[38]
In March 2025 the High Court held that several asylum applicants had been unlawfully accommodated at Wethersfield because of their particular vulnerabilities which included being a victim of trafficking and torture. It was also found that there had been no attempt to carry out a Public Sector Equality Duty assessment of the equalities implications of the Allocation of Asylum Accommodation Policy and whether barracks accommodation was suitable for people who were disabled or had serious mental health issues.[39]
Also in March 2025 it was announced that Napier barracks would no longer be used as asylum accommodation from September 2025.[40]
No information is provided by the government about the length of time people stay in accommodation centres.
Diego Garcia
Diego Garcia is part of the Chagos Islands, which the UK considers as the British Indian Ocean Territory, despite international law considering that the UK does not have sovereignty over the islands.[41] In 2021 and 2022 a small number of people from Sri Lanka arrived on Diego Garcia and sought asylum. Following litigation, processes were set up on the island to allow for this.[42]Extensive litigation took place concerning those processes as well as the conditions on the island and in December 2024 most of the people on the island were transferred to the UK and granted six months leave to enter. Three people with criminal convictions remain on Diego Garcia. The future situation for all of this group remains unclear and there is still ongoing litigation, so further developments are anticipated in 2025.[43]
A judge has held that the people were unlawfully detained on the island.[44] Following the agreement that the UK will return the islands to Mauritius, an agreement was made with the government of St Helens for any future arrivals to be transferred there, the announcement notes that there have been no arrivals in Diego Garcia since 2022.[45]
Conditions in dispersed accommodation
Dispersed accommodation, in flats and houses among the general population, is where asylum applicants stay for most of the time while their claim is being decided. Basic furniture and cooking equipment is provided.[46] The BBC and Refugee Action worked together to bring attention to the poor housing conditions in dispersed accommodation, culminating in a piece released in January 2022. As highlighted in the article, this issue extends across all asylum accommodation providers, and properties are being kept in a poor state of repair.[47]
A report published in January 2025 found that issues with dispersal accommodation included that it was poor in quality and badly maintained, isolated, lacked transport provisions, and there were negative experiences with staff and difficulty in getting issues addressed.[48]
No data is available on how long individuals spend in dispersal accommodation. Any issues are generally reported to Migrant Help in the first instance.
The impact of living on Section 4 support is discussed in the section Forms and Levels of Material Reception Conditions.
[1] Home Office, Immigration system statistics data tables, Asylum seekers in receipt of support detailed datasets, year ending December 2023, table Asy_D09, 29 February 2024, available here.
[2] National Audit Office, Investigation into asylum accommodation, 20 March 2024, available here.
[3] Amelia Gentleman, The Guardian, ‘Child asylum seekers in UK forced to share hotel rooms with adults’, 30 October 2023, available here.
[4] Diane Taylor, ‘Fears rise for LGBTQ asylum seekers over Home Office hotel room-sharing push’, The Guardian, 1 December 2023, available here.
[5] Practice based observation by the expert, January 2024.
[6] Home Affairs Select Committee, Asylum Accommodation, January 2017, available here.
[7] Home Office, Conditions of support, 7 March 2023, available here.
[8] The Guardian, ‘Asylum seeker housing conditions under scrutiny at third ex-military site’, 14 January 2021, available here. This report includes links to others and summarises concerns.
[9] Home Office, ‘Promotional material: Wethersfield: factsheet’, updated 29 February 2024, available here.
[10] Home Office, ‘Promotional material: Scampton factsheet’, updated 1 March 2024, available here.
[11] Home Office, ‘Promotional material: Portland Port: factsheet’, updated 29 December 2023, available here.
[12] ICIBI and HMIP, An inspection of contingency accommodation, July 2021, available here.
[13] Home Office, ‘The Home Office response to the ICIBI report on contingency accommodation and HMIP inspection of Penally and Napier barracks’, available here.
[14] In a place like prison, Asylum Matters and partners 2021, available here.
[15] APPG on Immigration Detention, Report of Visit to Napier Barracks on 2 February 2022, 7 April 2022, available here.
[16] Jessica Elgot and Peter Walker, ‘Final asylum seekers have now left the Bibby Stockholm’, The Guardian, 26 November 2024, available here.
[17] Home Office, ‘Promotional material: Portland Port: factsheet’, updated 29 December 2023, available here.
[18] Home Affairs Select Committee, ‘Questions for Home Office on conditions at Bibby Stockholm’, 2 February 2024, available here.
[19] Diane Taylor, ‘Bibby Stockholm asylum seeker who died in suspected suicide is named’, The Guardian, 18 December 2023, available here.
[20] Diane Taylor, ‘Home Office threatened to deport man likely to be key witness in Bibby Stockholm inquest’, The Guardian, 2 August 2024, available here.
[21] BBC News, ‘Scampton asylum seekers to be capped by Home Office’, 18 March 2024, available here.
[22] Home Office, ‘Promotional material: Scampton: factsheet’, updated 10 September 2024, available here.
[23] Home Office, ‘Promotional material: Wethersfield: factsheet’, updated 28 March 2024, available here.
[24] Home Office, ‘Promotional material: Wethersfield: factsheet’, updated 16 October 2024, available here.
[25] Helen Bamber Foundation, Ghettoised and traumatised: the experiences of men held in quasi-detention in Wethersfield, 15 December 2023, available here.
[26] Medecins Sans Frontieres, ‘MSF launches UK operations to treat people seeking asylum’, 9 January 2024, available here.
[27] MSF/DWB, ‘Mental health crisis unfolds at RAF Wethersfield Mass Containment Site: Doctors of the World and MSF call for urgent site closure’, 26 June 2024, available here.
[28] ICIBI, ‘An inspection of contingency asylum accommodation: November 2023 – June 2024’, 24 October 2024, available here.
[29] Helen Bamber Foundation and Asylum Aid, ‘Suffering and squalor: the mental health impact of living in hotel asylum accommodation’, 20 June 2024, available here.
[30] Women for Refugee Women, ‘Coercion and control: The treatment of women seeking asylum in hotel accommodation’, 3 September 2024, available here.
[31] Full Fact, ‘UK riots fact checked: latest updates and key questions answered’, 12 August 2024, available here.
[32] The Guardian, ‘‘They thought they were going to die’: the asylum seekers who survived rioters trying to burn down their accommodation’, 29 December 2024, available here.
[33] The Guardian, ‘Record number of asylum seekers died in 2024 while in care of Home Office’, 10 February 2025, available here.
[34] IPPR, ‘Transforming asylum accommodation’, 24 October 2024, available here.
[35] Diane Taylor, ‘Asylum seekers report widespread abuse in Home Office accommodation’, The Guardian, 3 June 2024, available here.
[36 Diane Taylor, ‘Number of UK asylum seekers who died in Home Office care doubles in a year’, The Guardian, 19 August 2024, available here.
[37] Hansard, House of Lords, ‘Asylum Seekers: Hotels Volume 842: debated on Monday 20 January 2025’, available here.
[38] Joint Committee on Human Rights, Letter to the Home Secretary, 22 January 2025, available here.
[39] TG & Ors v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWHC 596 (Admin), 14 March 2025, available here.
[40] Diane Taylor, ‘Mass asylum seeker accommodation at Napier barracks to close’, The Guardian, 19 March 2025, available here.
[41] BBC News, ‘UN court rules UK has no sovereignty over Chagos islands’, 28 January 2021, available here.
[42] Ben Nelson, ‘New asylum processes set up on disputed territory of Diego Garcia’, Free Movement, 23 October 2023, available here.
[43] Ben Nelson, ‘Most Diego Garcia migrants finally transferred to the UK, but what happens next?’, Free Movement, 6 December 2024, available here.
[44] BBC News, ‘UK unlawfully detained migrants on Diego Garcia, judge finds’, 17 December 2024, available here.
[45] Government of St Helens, ‘Partnership Between UK Government and St Helena Government Regarding Future British Indian Ocean Territory Migrants’, 16 October 2024, available here.
[46] Practice based observation by the expert, January 2024.
[47] BBC, ‘Asylum accommodation; the homes where ceilings have fallen in’, 9 January 2022, available here.
[48] NACCOM, “Treat Us Like Humans: A Report on the Lived Experience of the Asylum System”, December 2024, available here.