Asylum accommodation

Individuals seeking asylum in the UK, and who can prove they are destitute, are eligible for support from the Home Office. Support can be financial — asylum seekers are entitled to receive £36.95 a week — and in the form of accommodation. Since 2012 accommodation has been provided to asylum seekers via six regional Commercial and Operational Managers Procuring Asylum Support Services contracts, known as COMPASS. COMPASS replaced a previous system of 22 separate contracts with 13 different suppliers (a mixture of private providers, local authorities and the voluntary sector). The COMPASS contracts also include transport services, which were previously covered by a separate contract. Three companies each won two of the six contracts: Serco (Scotland and Northern Ireland; North West England), G4S (North East England, Yorkshire and the Humber; Midlands and East of England), and Clearsprings Group2 (Wales and South West England; London and South East England). Of these companies (hereafter referred to as Providers), only Clearsprings had any previous experience in providing accommodation to asylum seekers. G4S and Serco were however experienced in providing services to Government, having already held several major contracts in other areas of public sector delivery. Although the system of three Providers looks straightforward on the surface, below it lies a complex network of contractors, sub-contractors and hundreds of private landlords. In advance of the decision on the future of the COMPASS contracts we decided to assess whether they have been an effective means of providing accommodation and related support to those seeking asylum. Our inquiry was also prompted by concerns raised with us over the quality of the accommodation being used by Providers and reports of poor treatment of the asylum seekers that they house, and concerns that Providers were finding it difficult to make suitable and sufficient accommodation available within the constraints of the COMPASS contracts. We have reported on some of these issues previously as part of our regular examination of the work of the Home Office’s Immigration Directorates. In the course of almost a year’s work on this topic, we have taken evidence from all three COMPASS Providers and some of their sub-contractors; from the Local Government Association and organisations representing asylum seekers and refugees; and from Home Office Ministers. We have also received written evidence. We are grateful to all those who have contributed to this inquiry, and we note the willingness of Providers to engage with us. We should particularly like to thank the West Midlands Strategic Migration Partnership, St Chad’s Sanctuary and G4S for facilitating our visit to Birmingham in November. In this Report we examine the system of providing asylum accommodation and make recommendations to improve upon it. Some of our recommendations look to the long-term future of the asylum system and should be considered as part of the consultation on the successor to COMPASS; others however are more urgent. We acknowledge that the Home Office and Providers have agreed contracts to extend the COMPASS system for two years, but that should not prevent the Government and Providers from addressing the most pressing of our concerns.