Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department pays its three accommodation contractors directly for meeting its definition of essential living needs in relation to hotel residents in full board asylum accommodation.
Asylum seekers who are accommodated in “dispersal” accommodation (generally flats and houses) receive £39.60 per week to cover their other essential living needs. Asylum seekers accommodated in hotels and other full-board facilities do not receive this payment because their essential living needs are provided for in kind, or a mixture of in kind support and some cash.
The detail of the support arrangements for those supported in full-board accommodation are set out in the contracts with the accommodation providers; specifically the “Statement of Requirements”, which can be found at:
The accommodation providers receive payments for providing services consistent with those requirements.