What does the pledge mean? 

Asylum seekers (people awaiting a decision on an asylum application) who are destitute can apply to receive support from the government, including accommodation. People who apply for asylum support are housed in initial accommodation while their application is considered, and if their application for asylum support is granted, they are placed in dispersal accommodation until a final decision is made on their asylum claim.

Due to an increased number of asylum seekers awaiting a decision on their application in the UK in recent years, the government has had to use ‘contingency’ asylum accommodation in order to meet its obligation to provide housing for those who require it. This has primarily involved the use of hotels, although some asylum seekers have been housed in other types of contingency accommodation, including the Bibby Stockholm barge and in former military barracks.

Labour did not originally set out a specific timeframe to achieve this pledge and the Home Office did not offer one when we asked. But in June 2025, chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed the government intends to end “the costly use of hotels to house asylum seekers in this Parliament”.

The Home Office routinely publishes quarterly data showing the number of asylum seekers in hotels, but not the number of hotels in use or their associated costs. Given this, it’s unclear how the government intends to provide updates on progress towards this pledge.

What progress has been made?

We’re currently rating this pledge as “appears off track”, because according to the latest available data, the number of asylum seekers housed in hotels increased between Labour forming a government in July 2024 and the end of March 2025, the latest date we have data for.

However, while 213 hotels were being used to house asylum seekers when Labour entered government, according to minister for border security and asylum Dame Angela Eagle, in July 2025 a Home Office spokesperson told us this had decreased by three, to 210, and that the government expected more to close.

The latest available data on the number of asylum seekers being housed in hotels covers up to the end of March 2025.

It shows that figure stood at 32,345 by the end of March 2025 (approximately 30% of all those in receipt of support)—meaning the number of asylum seekers housed in hotels is, as far as we know, approximately 9% higher than when Labour formed a government.

At the end of June 2024, just before Labour came into office, a total of 29,585 asylum seekers were being housed in contingency accommodation in hotels (approximately 29% of all asylum seekers in receipt of support from the government at that time).

We’ve asked the government how many asylum seekers are being housed in the 210 hotels in use as of July 2025, and will update this page if we receive a response.

Questioned by MPs on the Home Affairs Committee in June 2025, Ms Eagle said the Home Office was exploring the use of “medium size” accommodation instead of hotels to house asylum seekers, such as “old student accommodation” or “old voided tower blocks”, saying it would be “cheaper to bring on board sites like that if you’re closing hotels”.

As part of the government’s Spending Review in June 2025, the chancellor assigned £200 million to the Home Office to “help end the costly use of asylum hotels in this Parliament and accelerate transformation of the asylum system by clearing the backlog, boosting appeals capacity and continuing to return those with no right to be here”.

The government estimates reforms to the asylum system will reduce asylum costs by “at least £1 billion per year by 2028‑29 compared with 2024-25”, although this is subject to “inherent uncertainty”.

The Home Office has not directly confirmed how much it estimates closing asylum hotels specifically will reduce overall asylum support costs by, although its latest accounts state £2.1 billion was spent on hotels in 2024/25, compared to £3.0 billion spent on hotels in 2023/24.