Asylum seekers told they'll have to pay back £10,000 in accommodation costs once they start earning - but will anyone ever actually pay?

By DAVID BARRETT, HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR Published: 22:30, 29 June 2026 | Updated: 22:45, 29 June 2026 Asylum seekers will be required to pay back £10,000 of what the taxpayer spends on supporting them, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will announce on Tuesday. The cash could be deducted from their pay cheques in monthly instalments once they get a job, similar to a student loan. But serious doubts remain over how much money the Home Office will be able to claw back, as the payments will be means tested. Those who successfully argue they cannot afford to repay the money will be excused from the scheme. The £10,000 sum – a flat-rate charge imposed on all adult asylum seekers – will partly reimburse the taxpayer for the cost of keeping asylum seekers in hotels or self-catering accommodation while their claims are decided. Last year £4billion was spent on asylum support in the UK. The Home Office has said it costs an average of £158,000 a year to support a family of asylum seekers. Ms Mahmood said: ‘The cost of asylum accommodation on the British taxpayer is too high. Asylum seekers will be required to pay back £10,000 of what the taxpayer spends on supporting them, collected through wage deductions in a similar way to student loans. Pictured: a library image of small boat migrants in the Channel ‘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 new measures will feature in the new Immigration and Asylum Bill to be introduced in Parliament today. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said 'once people can contribute and repay the generosity of the British people, we expect them to do so' The Home Office said the ‘primary mechanism’ for the repayments would be direct deductions from wages, but it could also be done through the tax and benefits systems. Migrants will have to pay off the full amount before being eligible for permission to live in Britain permanently. Anyone who leaves the country will be required to be making their repayments in order to return. It is unclear how the policy will deal with asylum seekers who secretly end up working undeclared, cash-in-hand jobs. It is also uncertain whether it will encourage more asylum seekers to remain jobless. Only a quarter of 16 to 64-year-olds granted asylum between 2015 and 2023 were in employment within a year, with the proportion rising to half by two years after being granted refugee status. Asylum hotels currently cost the taxpayer an average of £144 per person per night and self-catering asylum accommodation costs just over £23 a night. Claimants in self-catering accommodation receive £49.18 a week allowance while those on full board get £9.95 a week. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘It is flattering that Labour have adopted yet another policy put forward by the Conservative Party. Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes. ‘This precise scheme was proposed by us in an amendment to the Immigration Bill last year, which Labour blocked.’ He added: ‘Labour are failing to remove illegal immigrants and have wasted two years in government tinkering around the edges. ‘The Conservatives have set out clear and deliverable policies which we encourage Labour to copy in order to completely end illegal immigration. ‘We would leave the European Convention on Human Rights and modern slavery treaties that are restricting deportations and would allow for all illegal immigrants to be deported - meaning we then won’t need to worry about who pays for accommodating them.’ The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.