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 seekers 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 its final 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 has capacity for around 500 people and the maximum length of stay is expected to be 9 months. The rooms have ensuite bathrooms, communal spaces, a canteen and a laundry.[16] The use of the Bibby Stockholm barge has led to concerns being raised about the conditions the men are living in, as up to six people would be sharing a small, cramped cabin, often they did not know each other or speak the same language. A GP is on board one day a week and there is limited access to mental health support.[17] A man who was being accommodated on the barge died in December 2023.[18] The guidance issued in relation to the barge states that if people refuse to move to the barge their asylum support can be stopped.[19]
Scampton is not yet in use, when it is the capacity will be 800.[20] Wethersfield will be able to accommodate 1,700 for between six and nine months when fully operational.[21] Concerns have been raised about the isolated location, detention-like setting, lack of privacy and shared facilities, and inadequate healthcare.[22]
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.[23]
No information is provided by the government about the length of time people stay in accommodation centres.
Conditions in dispersed accommodation
Dispersed accommodation, in flats and houses among the general population, is where asylum seekers stay for most of the time while their claim is being decided. Basic furniture and cooking equipment is provided.[24] 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.[25]
The impact of living on Section 4 support is discussed in the section Forms and Levels of Material Reception Conditions.
No data is available on how long individuals spend in dispersal accommodation. Any issues are generally reported to Migrant Help in the first instance.
[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 at: https://tinyurl.com/bdhnwfkr.
[2] National Audit Office, Investigation into asylum accommodation, 20 March 2024, available at: https://tinyurl.com/h6hwt7du.
[3] Amelia Gentleman, The Guardian, ‘Child asylum seekers in UK forced to share hotel rooms with adults’, 30 October 2023, available at: https://tinyurl.com/35wumakm.
[4] Diane Taylor, The Guardian, ‘Fears rise for LGBTQ asylum seekers over Home Office hotel room-sharing push’, 1 December 2023, available at: https://tinyurl.com/bdrjunbc.
[5] Practice based observation by the expert, January 2024.
[6] Home Affairs Select Committee, Asylum Accommodation, January 2017, available at: http://bit.ly/2n0KUwI.
[7] Home Office, Conditions of support, 7 March 2023, available at: https://tinyurl.com/mwdd6bbx.
[8] The Guardian, ‘Asylum seeker housing conditions under scrutiny at third ex-military site’, 14 January 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/39n1f7m. This report includes links to others and summarises concerns.
[9] Home Office, ‘Promotional material: Wethersfield: factsheet’, updated 29 February 2024, available at: https://tinyurl.com/4cjshbms.
[10] Home Office, ‘Promotional material: Scampton factsheet’, updated 1 March 2024, available at: https://tinyurl.com/4bn4k8rc.
[11] Home Office, ‘Promotional material: Portland Port: factsheet’, updated 29 December 2023, available at: https://tinyurl.com/336kyz97.
[12] ICIBI and HMIP, An inspection of contingency accommodation, July 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/368YJST.
[13] Home Office, ‘The Home Office response to the ICIBI report on contingency accommodation and HMIP inspection of Penally and Napier barracks’, available at: https://bit.ly/3fMeiS4.
[14] In a place like prison, Asylum Matters and partners 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/49n0MPe.
[15] APPG on Immigration Detention, Report of Visit to Napier Barracks on 2 February 2022, 7 April 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3GPMew3.
[16] Home Office, ‘Promotional material: Portland Port: factsheet’, updated 29 December 2023, available at: https://tinyurl.com/336kyz97.
[17] Home Affairs Select Committee, ‘Questions for Home Office on conditions at Bibby Stockholm’, 2 February 2024, available at: https://bit.ly/3T9okjN.
[18] Diane Taylor, ‘Bibby Stockholm asylum seeker who died in suspected suicide is named’, The Guardian, 18 December 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3wru2G1.
[19] Home Office, Failure to travel to Bibby Stockholm vessel: caseworker guidance, 13 March 2024, available at: https://bit.ly/3OShy09.
[20] BBC News, ‘Scampton asylum seekers to be capped by Home Office’, 18 March 2024, available at: https://tinyurl.com/3de5edzj.
[21] Home Office, ‘Promotional material: Wethersfield: factsheet’, updated 29 February 2024, available at: https://tinyurl.com/4cjshbms.
[22] Helen Bamber Foundation, Ghettoised and traumatised: the experiences of men held in quasi-detention in Wethersfield, 15 December 2023, available at: https://tinyurl.com/4smz9k6a.
[23] Medecins Sans Frontieres, ‘MSF launches UK operations to treat people seeking asylum’, 9 January 2024, available at: https://bit.ly/3OTykMm.
[24] Practice based observation by the expert, January 2024.
[25] BBC, ‘Asylum accommodation; the homes where ceilings have fallen in’, 9 January 2022, available at: https://bbc.in/3nKEgtT.