Overview

• Home Office data show 32,059 asylum seekers were in hotels at the end of June 2025, up 8% year on year but 43% below the September 2023 peak and slightly down from March.
• Asylum applications hit a record 111,084 in the year to June, with small-boat arrivals accounting for 39% and nearly 28,000 people crossing so far in 2025.
• Government asylum spending fell 12% to £4.76bn in 2024/25, while the average hotel night cost was £118.87 in March and the Britannia in Canary Wharf was £81, according to the Home Office.
• The High Court granted Epping Forest District Council a temporary injunction, requiring the Bell Hotel to be vacated by 12 September, and multiple councils are now weighing similar legal action.
• Contractors working for the Home Office have reportedly sought about 5,000 private residential units to house roughly 20,000 people as contingency, as protests and policing concerns continue around hotel sites.