Bond calls for end to Home Office use of UK aid budget on in-country asylum support

Yesterday’s report from the Home Affairs Committee into the UK Home Office’s management of asylum accommodation found that billions of taxpayer money has been ‘squandered’ on costly accommodation contracts.

The report also highlights that rising cost of asylum support has had a direct impact on the Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) budget, which is increasingly being used to cover the costs of support given to “in-country” refugees in the UK. In 2024-25, 55% (£2.2billion) of spending on asylum support was funded by the UK aid budget – money which is intended to be used to fight poverty, disease and conflict in the world’s least developed and most fragile countries. 

In April this year, over 100 UK NGOs and refugee charities issued a joint call to the government to end the use of hotels for housing asylum seekers as soon as possible. This latest report into expensive and unsuitable asylum accommodation contracts further emphasises the need for the UK government to find better, more cost-effective and appropriate solutions to house and support asylum seekers and refugees.

In reaction, Gideon Rabinowitz, Director of Policy and Advocacy at Bond, the UK network of NGOs, said: 

For too long successive governments have diverted the diminishing UK aid budget to fund expensive and inappropriate accommodation for asylum seekers and refugees in the UK. It’s concerning that around 20% of the already-slashed UK aid budget will continue to do so in the coming year – leaving the budget stretched even further, and leaving even less for vital development and humanitarian programmes around the world. This means fewer vaccines for preventable diseases, fewer girls being helped into education, and fewer opportunities for people suffering the devastating impacts of conflicts and climate crisis.

While we strongly encourage efforts to support refugees and asylum seekers in the UK, the Home Affairs Committee’s report emphasises what UK NGOs have long warned: that the current system is not fit for purpose. The government must urgently find better, more cost-effective solutions to house asylum seekers and refugees – including by scaling up the use of appropriate community housing facilitated by local authorities, rather than relying on costly and inefficient contracts with private companies.

Importantly, this support must be funded from the Home Office’s own budget, rather than being diverted from the already strained UK aid budget. UK aid should be used for its primary purpose: to tackle poverty and inequality and support the world’s most marginalised.

ENDS. 

Notes for editors

1. The Home Affairs Committee report, ‘The Home Office’s management of asylum accommodation’ is available to read here.
2. The UK ODA budget will be slashed from 0.5% of GNI to 0.3% by 2027/2028. Roughly 20-25% of the UK ODA budget is planned to be spent on asylum support in the UK in that year. This means that the budget for UK aid programmes will, in reality, be reduced to just 0.24% of GNI in 2027/2028.
3. The Spending Review earlier this year saw very slow reductions in Home Office use of UK aid – read Bond’s findings here
4. Bond unites and supports a diverse network of over 350 civil society organisations from across the UK, and allies to help eradicate global poverty, inequality and injustice.
5. For further information or interviews, please get in touch with Emily Loynes at [email protected] or 07909947850