MIGRANTS will be forced to pay back the cost of their accommodation in a student loan-style scheme — and will be stopped from getting settled status until they do.
Those who have been put up at taxpayers’ expense will be made to pay off part of their board and lodgings once they start earning above a certain threshold, the Government will announce today.
Sign up for the Politics newsletter
Thank you!
Migrants housed at taxpayers’ expense will be made to repay accommodation costs under a student loan-style system, with deductions taken once they start earning above a set threshold Credit: Chris Eades
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the cost of asylum accommodation on taxpayers is too high and migrants who can contribute should be expected to do so Credit: Alamy
The full amount, expected to be about £10,000, must be paid off before anyone can apply for settled status under the Home Office plans.
It is part of the Immigration and Asylum Bill to be introduced to Parliament today.
Dr Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said it was likely that only a relatively small share of people granted asylum would earn enough to pay towards the scheme.
It might also discourage asylum seekers from working once they got refugee status to avoid the cost, she said.
JACK ELSOM
Burnham’s ‘vision for Britain’ was jumbled word salad with NO substance
FEEL THE BURN
Andy Burnham vows ‘biggest change in our lifetimes’ despite being unelected
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “The cost of asylum accommodation on the British taxpayer is too high. We have already reduced asylum costs by £1billion, but it is also right that we ask those who can contribute to do so.
“Receiving asylum support is a right, but it is also a responsibility. Once people can contribute and repay the generosity of the British people, we expect them to do so.”
The Government said it spent £4billion on accommodation and support for asylum seekers last year.
The Home Office estimates the average cost per person per night of accommodating asylum seekers is £23.25 in dispersal accommodation and £144 in hotels.
Meanwhile, subsistence payments range from £9.95 to £49.18 a person a week.
