Oxford asylum seeker hotel could close as 11 earmarked

Migrants living in the Holiday Inn Express, off Grenoble Road near the Kassam Stadium, could be removed soon should they be included in the Government’s list.

Ever since it started housing asylum seekers in around 2022, the Holiday Inn Express has been subject to multiple protests.

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So far, the Home Office shut the Banbury House Hotel in Banbury in February this year and removed those living within to “cheaper alternative accommodation” but the town’s MP Sean Woodcock failed to say where.

The latest Home Office figures, published in February, reveals there are 423 asylum seekers housed temporarily in hotels across Oxfordshire.

The expected wave of closures, reported by The Guardian, are part of the Government’s pledge to no longer use such facilities by 2029 amid mounting pressure over rising costs and a backlash in local communities.

Protesters on both sides outside the Kassam Holiday Inn Express Hotel in Oxford (Image: Ed Nix)

Last year, a total of £4 billion was spent on asylum support in the UK, and as of December there were 107,003 people in receipt of asylum support with 30,657 in around 200 asylum hotels, according to the Home Office.

The Home Office will hold a private “industry day” this week for existing and prospective providers of asylum accommodation, where attendees have to sign non-disclosure agreements, The Guardian reported.

READ MORE: Migrants living in Oxford hotel speak out amid protests

The meeting will focus on the re-tendering of asylum accommodation contracts ending in 2029 under the Future Asylum Accommodation Contracts, which is aimed at curbing reliance on hotel use.

Protesters on both sides outside the Kassam Holiday Inn Express Hotel in Oxford (Image: Staff photographer)

The newspaper said senior sources among current providers had expressed concerns that the new arrangements could lead to a sharp rise in the number of contractors and a bigger bill for the taxpayer.

The Government announced in October that barracks in Scotland and southern England would be used to house around 900 men temporarily, as part of efforts to stop using hotels to temporarily house asylum seekers.

A Home Office spokesman said: “This Government is removing the incentives drawing illegal migrants to Britain and ramping up removals of those with no right to be here.

“That is why we will close every asylum hotel and moving asylum seekers into basic accommodation including ex-military sites.

Migrants watch on at protests last summer. (Image: Matt Simpson)

“The population in asylum hotels has fallen by nearly 20 per cent in the last year and by 45 per cent since the peak under the previous government – cutting costs by nearly £1 billion.”

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced last month that the statutory legal duty under EU law to provide asylum seekers with support and accommodation would be replaced with a conditional approach, among other measures to toughen up the UK asylum system.

From June, asylum seekers who break the law or work illegally will be thrown out of government-funded accommodation and lose their support payments.