Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made changes to the level of funding to local authorities for asylum seekers since July 2024.

The Home Office has a statutory obligation to support asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute.

In recent years, the Home Office has had various grants through which we provide funds to support local authorities, with responsibilities for housing asylum seekers.

Grant 7 was launched in April 2024 to facilitate local authority support of increased dispersal accommodation (DA) accommodation. A £3500 payment was allocated for the net growth of occupancy in each quarter for Home Office Supported Asylum Seeker accommodation within the geographical bounds of the local authority under the following categories; DA, overflow dispersal accommodation (ODA) and initial accommodation (IA).

Grant 6 was launched in April 2024 to acknowledge the contribution of Local Authorities to supporting asylum seekers. A payment of £750 was made for each occupied bedspace as of 01 April 2024 and a subsequent payment was allocated for the net growth of occupancy in each quarter for Home Office Supported Asylum Seeker accommodation within the geographical bounds of the local authority under the following categories; DA, ODA and IA and contingency accommodation (CA).

All local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales who support asylum seekers are eligible for payment. Similar arrangements are in place for Northern Ireland.