The asylum accommodation contracts have been changed 257 times

257 modifications across the seven regional contracts between 2019 and January 2025, according to the National Audit Office. Around 48% relate to managing the impact of COVID-19 and 16% to adding large sites.

The cost estimate has more than tripled. At award the contracts were expected to cost £4.5 billion over ten years. The current estimate is £15.3 billion — an increase of about 240%.

Seven contracts, not three. It is commonly said that three companies hold the asylum accommodation contracts, which is true at company level but obscures where accountability sits. There are seven regional contracts:

• Clearsprings Ready Homes — South of England, Wales
• Serco — Midlands and East of England, North West
• Mears — North East and Yorkshire, Scotland, Northern Ireland

Hotels drive the cost. People accommodated in hotels accounted for 76% of the cost of the contracts — £1.3 billion of an estimated £1.7 billion in the first seven months of 2024-25 — despite being a minority of the people housed.

Figures cited from The Home Office’s asylum accommodation contracts, National Audit Office, May 2025.