Home Office to end support for destitute asylum seekers and evict people from hotels.

Keir Starmer’s government plans to end the duty to support all destitute asylum seekers, with home secretary Shabana Mahmood set to remove support and evict people from hotels from spring 2026. 

The policy targets those deemed able to support themselves, those with work rights, people accused of illegal work or law breaking, and those refusing removal orders, potentially affecting thousands of the 111,651 people receiving asylum support across the UK as of mid-2025. 

Around 36,000 people were still housed in asylum hotels as of September 2025, with further closures, alternative accommodation, expanded returns deals with France and Germany, and possible removals to Syria under consideration, despite backlash from Labour MPs.

If the government believes charities will pick up the pieces, it is mistaken. We are already overwhelmed with crisis and emergency cases. Many charities are cutting costs, losing staff, merging, or closing down. The cost of living crisis is reducing donations while demand for help rises. As systems are digitalised, people whose first language is not English and who do not know their rights need intensive support. 

Our casework has doubled since the pandemic, yet we are cutting staff. There is intense competition for shrinking funding and little to no capacity to replace withdrawn state support. The result will be men, women, and children pushed onto the streets. Most asylum seekers are forbidden to work and those in hotels receive less than £10 a week. It is a miserable existence. Most want stable housing so they can rebuild their lives and contribute to their communities. Being made destitute is ten steps back. There is zero safety net.

As of June 2025, the Home Office was supporting around 3,800 to 4,100 asylum seekers in Glasgow, the highest number in any UK local authority area outside London. Glasgow remains the main dispersal area in Scotland, hosting roughly 95 percent of Scotland’s asylum seekers, with an estimated 4,500 people accommodated in the city as of January 2025. 

By August 2025, refugee and asylum households accounted for around 44 percent of homelessness presentations in Glasgow, with more than half of all temporary accommodation placements made up of refugee families, increasing the risk of rough sleeping and further pressure on a city that has already declared a housing emergency.