UK PM orders end to asylum seeker taxi bills after BBC investigation
Prime minister calls for a halt to taxi transfers for asylum seekers housed in hotels as the Home Office launches an urgent review following BBC findings of costly journeys and troubled conditions.
The prime minister said the use of taxis to transport asylum seekers living in government hotels must stop, after a BBC investigation found some journeys cost hundreds of pounds. The BBC reported a 250-mile taxi trip to a GP that cost about £600. The prime minister said he wants hotels emptied as quickly as possible and is considering measures to move people out sooner.
Opposition leader Keir Starmer said people would be very concerned by the practice and reiterated his pledge to end the use of hotels as quickly as possible.
The Home Office ordered an urgent review into the use and cost of taxi transfers on Wednesday.
Currently, asylum seekers housed in the hotels are issued with a bus pass for one return journey per week; taxis are used for other travel needs and booked via an automated system that does not list public transport or walking as options, which can produce unusually long or short journeys.
The BBC's four-hotel investigation also found cramped living conditions, smoke alarms covered with plastic bags and residents cooking on electric hobs in their showers. It also reported signs of residents working illegally in the black economy.
After the initial investigation, the BBC revisited one hotel and heard staff were going door-to-door searching for makeshift cooking equipment. A resident said a room was searched late at night and security asked her to let them in.
Some residents were warned against speaking to journalists, and a family member who invited the BBC to travel with her to a GP appointment by taxi was told not to do so.
The Home Office has said it did not keep figures on taxi spending for asylum seekers when asked previously by the BBC.
About 32,000 asylum seekers are currently housed in hotels across the UK, down from 51,000 in 2023. The government has pledged to end hotel use by 2029, and ministers said the BBC findings showed the pace must quicken and that all options, including alternative housing such as military sites, should be considered.
A spokesman for Clearsprings Ready Homes, one of the contractors responsible for managing the hotels, declined to provide details of action taken following the investigation and referred questions to the Home Office. Mears and Serco did not comment.
The Home Office referenced its statement on Wednesday announcing the urgent review into the use and cost of taxi transfers. The department said it would examine the arrangements as part of broader efforts to reform asylum accommodation and move residents out of hotels more quickly.
Officials noted the pace of relocation remains tightly bound to processing and resettlement timelines, but ministers insisted the findings from the BBC report underscored the need to accelerate options for housing asylum seekers away from hotels. The government has said it will pursue a mix of measures, including faster processing, alternative sites, and, where appropriate, regional or military facilities, to reduce reliance on hotel housing while asylum applications proceed.