Private companies profiting from asylum accommodation contracts

The Government has paid billions to its significant contractors- Mears, Serco and Clearspings- over a ten-year period to provide accommodation, alongside paying out £8 million per day for the provision of institutionalised hotel accommodation. Profits have soared for these companies, with Mears, who manage asylum provision in Scotland, reporting a 37% rise in profits in 2021.  

Whilst raking in these extraordinary profits, these companies have been the subject of multiple controversies. In December 2021, reports of ‘damp, mould, water leaks and pest infestations’ were rife in Clearsprings accommodation. In Serco-run accommodation in England, the Guardian has reported a culture of abuse and intimidation. We also recently drew attention to the extension of contracts to the firm operating the Manston Processing Centre, despite the crisis that developed there in October 2022. A Council of Europe delegation described the frequent use of restraint as potentially amounting to inhumane and degrading treatment. Despite all of this, contracts continue, and the Government gives more and more money to companies repeatedly failing people seeking asylum. 

For some of those that we work with, poor conditions in hotels and asylum accommodation are making life unbearable. In a recent conversation with a resident of a Mears-run hotel accommodation in Glasgow, he told us that he had experienced dizziness, heartburn and an inability to sleep after eating meals in the hotel. He spoke of filthy carpets, and dust all over the hotel. The standards of hotel accommodation across the UK are failing people seeking asylum. As ‘hotel maximisation’ comes into practice, a policy which will allow the Home Office to cram two people into one room in asylum accommodation, the wellbeing of people seeking safety is once again being sacrificed for profit.  

The Government continues to claim that contracts are awarded based on what provides the taxpayer with the ‘best value for money’, but all evidence points towards the failure of these companies. Running the asylum system ‘for-profit’ encourages cutting corners, allowing big companies to accumulate huge profits whilst people seeking asylum are left to live in poverty and destitution. This system is not fit for purpose.  

Sign this petition to call for an end to this system, and demand an asylum system that is not run for profit.

Sarah (Campaigns Volunteer) and Iona Taylor (Advocacy and Campaigns Lead).