New repayment scheme for asylum seekers announced
People seeking asylum must hand back up to £10,000 for their accommodation and living costs once they get a job. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood shared the new plans, which mean refugees cannot get permanent residency until the debt is cleared.
The system will see adults pay a fixed monthly amount after crossing a specific earnings limit. This financial set-up is designed to work in a similar way to a student loan. Migrants must secure settled status, or indefinite leave to remain, to stay in the country for good. This allows them the legal right to reside, find employment and join educational courses.
Government spending and cost reduction
The Government revealed it spent £4bn on housing and support for asylum seekers last year, with the Home Office estimating the average nightly cost per person at £23.25 in dispersal accommodation and £144 in hotels – while subsistence payments range from £9.95 to £49.18 per person per week. Home Secretary Mahmood described the expenditure as "too high".
"We have already reduced asylum costs by £1bn, but it is also right that we ask those who can contribute to do so," she added. "Receiving asylum support is a right, but it is also a responsibility. Once people can contribute and repay the generosity of the British people, we expect them to do so."
Debt details and legal powers
Officials expect the total debt per person to reach roughly £10,000. However, the Home Office noted that the Home Secretary can alter this final amount. Anyone who leaves the UK with an outstanding balance must clear it in full if they want to return later. Ministers will introduce the legal powers for this collection scheme in the Immigration and Asylum Bill today, reports George Lithgow.
Expert concerns and criticism
Dr Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, suggested that the scheme faced challenges. "The data suggests that unless thresholds were significantly below the minimum wage, a relatively small share of people granted asylum would earn enough to make contributions to the scheme. It is possible that the scheme could have some other impacts, such as discouraging asylum seekers from taking up accommodation if they can find other support (such as family members or a charity), or discouraging them from working once they get refugee status."
"Performative cruelty" is how Zoe Dexter, from the Helen Bamber Foundation, described the proposals. "These are people who have fled persecution and extreme violence, often arriving with nothing, before spending months or years in overcrowded, dilapidated accommodation, sometimes facing intimidation and violent protests outside the places they are housed. Burdening them with debt just as they begin rebuilding their lives is grossly unjust and entirely self-defeating."
Broader asylum policy changes
This update arrives as the Home Office plans to use more old military sites for housing. The strategy forms part of a wider pledge to clear all asylum hotels before the next election. Hotel use has dropped to its lowest point since data collection started in 2022, according to official figures from last month. Further changes are expected today, including a single legal route to stop applicants from appealing a rejection and then filing fresh claims before deportation. The backlog of asylum appeals currently stands at 151,767, Home Office minister Lord Hanson of Flint confirmed on Monday. Appeals are taking an average of 61 weeks to be concluded as of March 2026, he informed the Lords.
