Written Evidence Submitted by Dr Charlotte Sanders, Centre for Migration & Diaspora Studies, Department of Anthropology & Sociology, SOAS University of London (AAC0032)
 

Background

This research was conducted by Dr Charlotte Sanders, Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology & Sociology at SOAS University of London and funded through a SOAS University of London grant. The research aimed to document the experiences of asylum-seekers currently residing across hotels and, in some cases, hostels, under section 98 and section 95 of the Immigration & Asylum Act 1999. The project’s key aims were to better understand the benefits and drawbacks of using hotels as sites for accommodating asylum-seekers, and to ascertain the effects of hotel residency on physical health and mental wellbeing. Assessing the effectiveness of the Home Office’s increasing reliance on hotels for asylum support accommodation from the ethnographic perspective of hotel residents themselves is critical to developing inclusive policy, as well to ensuring that the contractual obligations of companies involved in managing and provisioning hotel accommodation are being fulfilled in practice. This has significance for both human rights obligations and duty of care to those seeking asylum. Part of an ongoing project, this research has included conducting in-depth qualitative interviews with fifteen asylum-seekers residing in ten different hotels across London and Hampshire, and with participants often having experience of multiple hotels, having been moved around over the course of months or years. Interviews took place with interpreters present, both in person and via video calls, and between January 2023 and January 2025.

The findings below intend to provide evidence for the following issues:

• The Home Office’s use and management of asylum accommodation contracts, including in response to growing demand and changing needs  
• The performance of providers delivering the current contracts on:  
• Identifying and delivering appropriate accommodation  
• Safeguarding and supporting the welfare of people in asylum accommodation  

This submission provides an overview of research findings. I would be happy to assist with further details.

                                                                      Key Findings

The UK government’s response to a growing imbalance between asylum accommodation needs and available housing has introduced private hotels and hostels as accommodation for asylum-seekers under both section 98 (‘initial accommodation’) and section 95 (those awaiting a decision on their asylum claim) of the Immigration & Asylum Act 1999. In these accommodations asylum-seekers are provided with a room - although not necessarily their own room - and three meals per day. For those who have transitioned to section 95 an income of eight-pounds and eighty-six pence per week is assists asylum-seekers in meeting essential needs, with additional payments for those pregnant or with dependant children. As such, it is stated that residents’ basic living needs are met in catered hotel accommodation. In addition, when hotel accommodation was first introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic it was stated that hotel stays would be temporary, under section 98 only, and with a legislated timeframe of 35 days. However, these policies have not been fulfilled in practice on either count. Many residents are being accommodated in hotels after being moved to section 95 of their asylum process and remaining in hotel accommodation for months and frequently years. During this time, basic needs are not being met, with complaints including lack of accessible income and lack of adequately nutritious or even edible food, both of which are leading to a host of physical health complaints. Furthermore, hotel residency is impacting mental wellbeing, with many residents experiencing feelings of hopelessness and isolation, impacted greatly by limited finances, as well as symptoms of anxiety and depression. For many, lack of finances makes local travel and, therefore, access to a social life and legal advice very difficult. Within hotels, lack of space within rooms, limited privacy, and limited spaces for gathering also impact mental wellbeing. Finally, these issues are exacerbated by the absence of clear channels for resident to provide feedback or to hold individuals and companies involved in providing their accommodation and provisions to account.

The evidence presented in this submission indicates that hotels and hostels are unsuitable for the long-term accommodation of asylum-seekers, particularly the accommodation of families, with hotels and hostels having harmful effects on both physical and mental wellbeing. The submission recommends that such forms of accommodation should be used only as emergency and temporary measures.

In addition, during periods of hotel residency there must be more robust systems in place for the Home Office to oversee the effectiveness of private companies involved in hotel provisions, including hotel management, security, and catering, as well as for residents themselves to submit complaints and receive resolutions to those complaints. An independent body should be involved in charge of this accountability mechanism.

Finally, this submission recommends an increase in the financial support offered to asylum-seekers in hotels, which might include increasing weekly income to liveable levels, extending rights to work, and/or  providing free use of public transport. No or limited access to income leads to a wide range of harmful effects including boredom, social isolation, lack of access to medical services or legal advice, and distress including clinical depression.

Breakdown of Findings

Food

• Access to varied, nutritious, suitably cooked, and even edible food is an acute concern for asylum-seekers in hotel accommodation.
• A prevalent issue is that food offered in hotels is too spicy, making it both not to the taste of residents and causing upset stomachs. In cases, insects and mould have been found on food provided.
• Food is often carbohydrate heavy, with limited access to a variety of fruits and vegetables. Proteins, that is meats, are frequently cited to be overcooked, undercooked, or excessively oily. In addition, there is lack of variation in meals provided, with sometimes the same meal offered for lunch and dinner, or the same meal offered each day over long duration.
• For parents, there is concern that children are given the same food as adults without consideration of their particular needs. Consequently, children are either not eating, or are eating primarily bread and other simple carbohydrates. For some children this leads to weight-loss. For other children, and in addition to a lack of opportunities for exercise, this leads to weight gain.
• For adult residents, the absence of suitable food leading to weight-loss was also a prevalent complaint and health issue.
• Other health issues arising from the lack of adequate or safe food include upset stomachs, chronic nausea, chronic constipation, and gastritis. Residents have required medical attention for these issues and have been provided with medical letters detailing the need for more adequate, varied, or nutritious food. Residents who have submitted these letters have found it difficult to secure tangible changes to the food they are offered.
• There are hotel residents with particular dietary needs, for example due to pregnancy, lactose intolerance, or diabetes, who are concerned that they are not receiving food in line with their dietary needs.
• There is also either no or very little opportunity for hotel residents to source alternative food. This is in part because they have no or limited access to money, depending on the status of their asylum claim. It is also because they are not permitted to access storage, preparation or cooking facilities within their accommodation. These realities are sources of difficulty for asylum-seekers who find themselves unable to eat well in hotels.
• Food is regimented in hotels, with three meals a day offered at set times. This can constrain local mobility, such as when making visits to medical or legal appointments. If residents miss a meal time, they do not have the opportunity to eat until the next allocated meal time.
  

Recommendations

• Review of all contracts in relation to food provision, particularly in light of the prevalence of gastric health issues and complaints amongst asylum accommodation residents.
• Improve efficacy and efficiency of response mechanisms for residents submitting requests regarding dietary requirements, and medical evidence that diet is affecting physical health. 
• Broaden practical and financial access to alternative food products, and access to food storage and preparation facilities within asylum accommodation.
   

Income:

• The lack of access to adequate income in catered hotel accommodation is a source of ongoing difficulty and distress, particularly for residents with children, for whom the additional funds offered for those with dependants nonetheless prove inadequate.
• For residents who have been in hotels for months or years, the absence of the right to work is a source of frustration and mental distress.
• There are cases where residents are unable to access the financial support that they are eligible for under Section 95 of the Immigration & Asylum Act 1999 because they do not receive the ASPEN cards which they need in order to access their funds.
• For residents in receipt of the eight pounds and eighty-six pence of financial support offered under Section 95, a key concern was the inadequacy of this income for accessing public transportation. This affected local belonging, but also access to medical appointments and appointments with solicitors assisting with residents’ asylum claims.
• For those with children, lack of income has a particular effect on mobility outside of hotels, as parents are anxious about dealing with their children’s requests for drinks, snacks, or activities on offer in the local area.
• The effect of inadequate income for many is that hotel accommodation is experienced as a site of entrapment or containment despite residents’ permission to move about their local areas. This also leads to feelings of boredom and isolation, as well as depression. Not having the right to work amplifies feelings of boredom, disconnection, and hopelessness.
• Parents also struggle when older children come into contact with peers at school, and express desire for items or products that parents cannot afford or source. This can cause distress for parents and interpersonal conflicts within families.
• Access to essentials such as toiletries, clothes, and shoes can be unpredictable, as residents mostly rely on charities. Sometimes items cannot be sourced, and other times they are not adequate or suitable. This can affect wellbeing due to fear of social stigma, particularly in relation to personal hygiene.
• Lack of clothing is also impacted by residents’ reliance on laundry services offered through their hotels. In cases, laundry is taken only once a week with residents not having sufficient clothes to maintain their preferred standards of hygiene.

Recommendations:

• Attention to timeframes and efficiency in relation to the receipt of ASPEN cards for those eligible for financial support. 
• Raising of weekly financial support to ensure dignity in living standards.
• Extending of items considered essential in relation to personal hygiene. For many hotel residents deodorant, for example, is not offered.
• Free use of public transport for those in asylum accommodation
• Review of the right to work, lessening the eligibility timeframe from twelve months to no more than six months. Such review should include extending the forms of work open to those who are able to secure permission to work.

Space, Privacy & Safety

• Lack of space is a prevalent concern amongst asylum accommodation residents. For some, rooms are shared with up to five other people, affecting privacy, comfort, and safety.
• The small size of hotel rooms leads to feelings of containment. This can also be intensified by limited fresh air, with safety locks on windows preventing them from being opened more than a fraction. This is particularly difficult in the summer months.
• For families lack of space in hotel rooms is a particular issue, with little room for children to move around during waking hours. For parents of children who are attending nursery, pre-school or school, weekends and school holidays – especially the long summer holiday – are particularly challenging, practically and emotionally. As aforementioned, this is exacerbated by lack of financial means to get out and about. 
• Limited room space can be aggravated by no or limited communal space in hotels, and especially space for children to gather, run, or play. In some cases communal spaces have restricted opening hours.
• The lack of privacy in hotel accommodation is exacerbated by staff entering residents’ rooms without warning or clear reason. This impacts senses of dignity and autonomy; for some residents this is particularly triggering and results in anxiety or panic attacks.
• Insomnia is a frequent complaint amongst residents in asylum hotels and hostels, and having staff entering rooms in the day can disrupt opportunities to catch up on sleep.
• That hotels are noisy spaces is a prevalent issue for wellbeing, with noise disrupting sleep and rest, and also feelings of safety and security. This is especially important for residents with experiences of trauma.
• Female and trans residents report safeguarding concerns in relation to male residents and male staff in hotels. This affects their ability to feel secure moving around the hotel and interacting with others. 
• For some, having to sign out and sign in when leaving and entering the hotel is a jarring form of monitoring, which produces the feeling of being in prison, or having done something wrong.

Recommendations:

• Accommodating asylum-seekers in shared rooms is highly likely to cause issues with privacy and safeguarding and should be avoided on mental health grounds. In general, as hotel accommodation is both noisy and demands extremely close proximity to strangers it is likely to be harmful for individuals vulnerable on the grounds of trauma, gender or sexuality.
• Particular attention must be given to the suitability of accommodation when families with children are being accommodated in hotels. This includes the space of the room itself, but also access to indoor and/our outdoor communal space.
• Staff entering rooms is a particular issue for residents, and especially those living with trauma. Grounds for entering rooms must be reasonable and clearly articulated, with adequate notice to maintain privacy and the right to private and family life.
• It might be recognised that monitoring procedures with regard to leaving and entering hotels may provoke negative or anxious feeling for residents.

Summary Notes: Welfare & Wellbeing

Food, income, and living space are all points of concern for residents in asylum accommodation, and are central to the prevalently negative impact of hotel and hostel living on asylum-seeker residents. Boredom, isolation, disconnection, hopelessness, anxiety, depression and other forms of distress are endemic in asylum hotels and hostels, and are reported amongst children as well as adults. Lack of adequate, varied, or edible food leads to a host of gastric complaints as well as weight loss and weight gain, the latter also impacted by minimal opportunities for exercise. Absent or limited income affects autonomy over eating, moving about in the local area, and maintaining personal hygiene. This has a negative effect on overall wellbeing, once again to the point of hopelessness or depression. Limited living space in hotels, in conjunction with few opportunities for local mobility, prevent residents from accessing resources pertinent to their wellbeing, such as meaningful daily activities and social life. Limited funds for local mobility also prevents access to local belonging, medical support, and legal advice, again affecting mental and physical health. Architecturally, hotels and hostels do not provide the space for comfortable or acceptable living, especially long-term, and this is evidenced in the rates of mental distress amongst residents. This is further exacerbated by the noisy nature of hotels, frequent room checks, and movement monitoring, all of which affect senses of privacy, autonomy, and security for residents.

In sum, these findings suggest that hotels and hostels are not adequate options for long-term accommodation, and that when they are used, more needs to be done to ensure that residents’ welfare is safeguarded, including more robust oversight and accountability procedures for private providers.

I hope this submission is of interest to the committee.

Feb 2025