MigrationWatchdog

Asylum hotels: how many, where, what they cost

Contingency hotel accommodation is the most contested part of the asylum support system. This page brings together every official figure on it that exists.

20,885 asylum seekers were in contingency hotels in the UK as at 31 Mar 2026 — 21.4% of all those in Home Office accommodation — down from a peak of 56,018 in 30 Sep 2023, spread across 115 local authorities.

What is not published — and what this page will not invent
The Home Office does not publish the names, addresses or locations of asylum hotels, and this site will not construct such a list: the only official geography is the local-authority count below. Hotels are a subset of contingency accommodation, which itself sits alongside dispersal and initial accommodation — the figures here count hotel places only. Counts are point-in-time snapshots by the local authority of a person's registered address; sites open and close between quarters.
20,885
in contingency hotels
as at 31 Mar 2026 · source
21.4%
of all supported accommodation
as at 31 Mar 2026 · source
115
local authorities with hotel places
as at 31 Mar 2026 · source
£3.1bn
hotel cost, FY 2023-24
FY 2023-24 · source

The hotel population over time

The series peaked at 56,018 people in 30 Sep 2023 and stands at 20,885 (as at 31 Mar 2026).

56k031 Mar 201431 Mar 202631 Mar 2014 — 030 Jun 2014 — 030 Sep 2014 — 031 Dec 2014 — 031 Mar 2015 — 030 Jun 2015 — 030 Sep 2015 — 031 Dec 2015 — 031 Mar 2016 — 030 Jun 2016 — 030 Sep 2016 — 031 Dec 2016 — 031 Mar 2017 — 030 Jun 2017 — 030 Sep 2017 — 031 Dec 2017 — 031 Mar 2018 — 030 Jun 2018 — 030 Sep 2018 — 031 Dec 2018 — 031 Mar 2019 — 030 Jun 2019 — 030 Sep 2019 — 031 Dec 2019 — 031 Mar 2020 — 030 Jun 2020 — 030 Sep 2020 — 031 Dec 2020 — 031 Mar 2021 — 030 Jun 2021 — 030 Sep 2021 — 031 Dec 2021 — 031 Mar 2022 — 030 Jun 2022 — 030 Sep 2022 — 031 Dec 2022 — 45,75331 Mar 2023 — 47,49030 Jun 2023 — 50,52030 Sep 2023 — 56,01831 Dec 2023 — 45,74431 Mar 2024 — 34,48630 Jun 2024 — 29,56130 Sep 2024 — 35,62831 Dec 2024 — 38,05431 Mar 2025 — 32,32630 Jun 2025 — 32,04130 Sep 2025 — 36,27331 Dec 2025 — 30,65731 Mar 2026 — 20,885
People in Home Office contingency hotel accommodation, quarterly snapshots. Asylum seekers in receipt of support by local authority, year ending March 2026 (Home Office).
31 Mar 2014 to 31 Mar 2026 · source

What hotels cost

The National Audit Office put hotel accommodation at £3.1bn in FY 2023-24, within total asylum support spending of £4.7bn — and found hotels accounted for 76% of the cost of the accommodation contracts while housing a far smaller share of the people in them.

“People accommodated in hotels account for around 35% of all people in asylum accommodation and for around 76% of the cost of the contracts (£1.3 billion out of an estimated £1.7 billion in the first seven months of 2024-25).”
first seven months of FY 2024-25 · source

The full cost picture, including written-off hotel losses →

Where hotel places are recorded

The 115 local authorities with recorded contingency hotel places, largest first. These figures sum to 20,885 — the same national total as the headline figure above, from the same release. Each authority links to its own page.

Local authorities with recorded contingency hotel places
Local authorityNationIn hotelsAll supported
HillingdonEngland1,3101,532
HounslowEngland1,0981,298
ManchesterEngland7821,606
NewhamEngland6971,030
BirminghamEngland5892,142
CroydonEngland581974
BrentEngland575902
BarnetEngland5331,137
Bristol, City ofEngland472879
StockportEngland443609
RugbyEngland391506
Mid SussexEngland361366
SouthwarkEngland359502
HackneyEngland344458
Bournemouth, Christchurch and PooleEngland339450
YorkEngland330341
CrawleyEngland298304
LiverpoolEngland2892,053
LambethEngland282346
WarwickEngland281360
Windsor and MaidenheadEngland277302
LeedsEngland2761,416
West NorthamptonshireEngland271436
BlackpoolEngland262496
Hammersmith and FulhamEngland248286
NottinghamEngland2381,538
ChelmsfordEngland227246
LeicesterEngland2151,370
StevenageEngland212261
ReadingEngland209578
Kensington and ChelseaEngland202205
CamdenEngland198223
EalingEngland1871,163
Newcastle upon TyneEngland1871,005
BradfordEngland1851,266
OxfordEngland185230
Stoke-on-TrentEngland1791,189
SheffieldEngland1791,126
TraffordEngland167258
SloughEngland166289
as at 31 Mar 2026 · source

Showing the 40 largest of 115. Every authority, sortable → · download the full table →

Download this data

Every file carries provenance headers. All datasets →

Data as of

Cite this page

Asylum hotels: how many, where, what they cost. Migration Watchdog, data as of 2026-08-13.
https://migrationwatchdog.com/hotels
Underlying figures: UK official statistics, re-published under OGL v3.0 — every figure links to its source on the page.

Sources for this page