Latest news with #migrantAccommodation
Daily Mail
13-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Company owned by billionaire 'Asylum King' planning 15,000 beds in new properties to 'replace migrant hotels'
A company owned by billionaire 'Asylum King' Graham King is planning 15,000 beds in new properties to replace migrant hotels. Asylum accommodation provider Clearsprings Ready Homes insisted the facilities would be 'much more affordable' than placing migrants in hotels on full board. Clearsprings and two other companies which hold deals to supply asylum accommodation also told MPs they have yet to pay back any cash to the taxpayer under profit share clauses in their contracts with the Home Office. It comes after watchdogs revealed last week that asylum seeker housing - including hotels and so-called 'dispersed accommodation' such as self-catering flats - is costing the taxpayer £4million every day. Managing director of Clearsprings Ready Homes Steve Lakey told a Commons committee: 'We have proposed - and we're talking to the Home Office about it at the moment – some what is called 'overflow dispersed accommodation'. 'It's a slightly different variant on self-catering dispersed accommodation. 'We've got about 15,000 bedspaces that we have proposed that could be utilised to replace hotels directly. 'Much more affordable, much more akin to dispersed accommodation and - most importantly - self-catering and in [the] community, so less of a draw than hotels.' Clearsprings owner Mr King was catapulted onto the Sunday Times Rich List last year after cashing in on the UK's migrant crisis with an estimated net worth of £750million. In the past year his wealth is estimated to have soared above £1billion and he is placed 154th in the 2025 edition of the list, to be published this weekend. Mr King leads a jet-set lifestyle patronising some of the world's top hotels and dining at Michelin-starred restaurants, often in the company of his glamorous Latvian girlfriend Lolita Lace, who at 39, is 18 years his junior. Questioned on the company's profits, managing director Mr Lakey said Clearsprings' contract has a 'profit share' clause which requires it to refund the taxpayer for any profits above five per cent. Its profits are currently running at 6.9 per cent, he said, and 'the total since the beginning of the contract is £32million'. None of the cash has yet been returned to the Treasury as it is awaiting audit, but is 'all there ready to go', he told the home affairs select committee. Jason Burt of another provider, Mears, said his firm had suggested repaying the Home Office £13.8million from its profits under the clause – and their calculations are also currently being audited by the government. Claudia Sturt of the third company, Serco, said it was 'not yet in scope for profit share'. Last week shock figures from the National Audit Office (NAO) showed the overall asylum accommodation bill of more than £15billion over 10 years is triple the Home Office's original estimate. Contracts were originally forecast to cost £4.5billion over a decade from 2019 but are now expected to run to £15.3billion over same period after the Channel crisis exploded. It means that on average the taxpayer will spend £4,191,780 a day on housing asylum seekers over the life of the contracts. A separate breakdown from the NAO showed overall costs in 2024-25 were £1.67billion. That amounted to £4,567,123 a day on average, or £3,172 a minute. Asylum hotels 'may be more profitable' for companies holding the contracts than other types of housing, the government's official auditors said. At the end of December, 42,000 asylum seekers were in Home Office 'contingency accommodation', including 38,000 in hotels, they added. It means that Clearsprings gets the go ahead for the new-style accommodation it could reduce the total number of asylum seekers in hotels by 40 per cent. Clearsprings, Mears and Serco operate two or three UK regions each. The Home Office currently has 210 asylum hotels in operation compared to a peak of more than 400, when they were costing £9million a day, it is understood. Labour has closed 23 hotels since the general election and a further seven will shut by July. However, arrivals across the Channel have surged by a third year-on-year. In total since Labour came to power there have been more than 35,000 arrivals, with 601 migrants making it to British soil on Monday. Last year saw more than 108,000 asylum claims – by small boat migrants and others – which was the highest number since records began in 1979.
Telegraph
08-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Winter fuel savings wiped out by spiralling migrant housing costs
The costs of migrant accommodation dwarfs the savings the Government will gain from cuts to winter fuel payments, official figures have shown. Housing asylum seekers over the 10 years to 2029 will cost more than £15 billion, equivalent to more than £4 million a day and triple the Home Office's initial estimates, according to analysis by the National Audit Office (NAO), the spending watchdog. This has been fuelled by a surge in asylum seekers in taxpayer-funded accommodation following record numbers of illegal migrants crossing the Channel. It is nine times the savings of £1.65 billion that the Government will make from cuts to the winter fuel payments. The changes restricting the payments to those who qualify for pension credit and income-related benefits were introduced last year, with about nine million pensioners no longer qualifying for the top-ups. According to analysis by The Telegraph, the money spent on migrant accommodation would cover winter fuel payments for 51 million pensioner households. The data come as Sir Keir Starmer has come under mounting pressure from Labour MPs over immigration and cuts to winter fuel payments. Jo White, the leader of the Red Wall Group comprising about 35 backbench Labour MPs, said that voters were 'angry' and cuts to winter fuel payments were 'the number one reason' why they were deserting Labour. The MP for Bassetlaw said that Labour faced an 'existential threat' because Reform UK was 'vocalising the concerns that people in my constituency have' while Labour was 'not answering those concerns fast enough'. The group is calling for a stronger message on immigration, with one member, Jonathan Hinder, the MP for Pendle and Clitheroe, saying that the issue is an 'existential threat' for Labour after the success of Nigel Farage's party at last week's local elections. Mr Hinder suggested that Sir Keir should commit to effectively freezing migration by the end of the current parliament through a 'one in, one out' system. Sir Keir has so far rejected calls to make any concessions on winter fuel payment cuts, but next week he will unveil his immigration white paper, which aims to make good on Labour's election manifesto commitment to reduce net migration from its current level of 728,000. Reform's popularity has seemingly been boosted by issues such as net migration, which passed 900,000 under the Tories, the use of asylum hotels, also instigated by the Conservatives, and record levels of illegal Channel migrant crossings – at the expense of both Labour and the Tories. The white paper is expected to herald two big legal changes to tackle the reliance of industry on cheaper foreign labour by forcing companies to ramp up training of British workers. Bosses who break employment law – for example by failing to pay their staff the minimum wage – will be banned from hiring workers from abroad. Training will also be linked to immigration, so sectors applying for foreign worker visas must first train Brits to do the jobs. Labour believes this will also help bring down the bloated benefits bill. Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, is also proposing to revamp the graduate visa where foreign students can remain in the UK for up to two years after completing their studies without being required to work. She is expected to demand that they will only be allowed to remain in the UK if they secure a graduate-level job, possibly within particular professions or with certain skills. Under the plans being drawn up by ministers, all migrants will have to demonstrate they are fluent in English under tougher tests – and face waiting up to 10 years for permanent residency, rather than the current five years, if they fail the language checks. Sir Keir has pledged to 'smash the gangs' behind illegal Channel migrants by giving Border Force, the National Crime Agency and police new counter-terror style powers and targeting the people smugglers' supply routes. A Home Office spokesman said: 'As [the NAO] report shows we inherited an asylum system in chaos with tens of thousands stuck in a backlog, claims not being processed and disastrous contracts that were wasting millions in taxpayer money. 'We've taken immediate action to fix it – increasing asylum decision-making by 52 per cent and removing 24,000 people with no right to be here, meaning there are now fewer asylum hotels open than since the election. 'By restoring grip on the system and speeding up decision making we will end the use of hotels and are forecast to save the taxpayer £4 billion by the end of 2026.'
