Overview
- As reported by the Telegraph and other outlets, officials have floated a £100‑a‑week allowance for asylum seekers who leave hotel accommodation to live with someone they know.
- A separate reported option would offer up to £3,000 through a voluntary returns scheme to help people resettle in their home countries.
- Coverage says the proposed returns offer would focus on nationalities with low grant rates, including Albania, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, Nigeria and Pakistan.
- A Home Office spokesman said there are no plans for the payments and reiterated the pledge to close all asylum hotels.
- Recent figures cited in reports say about 32,000 migrants were in roughly 200 hotels in June at an average cost of £145 per person per night, totalling around £5.5 million a day, as opposition criticism of the reported ideas intensified.