Plans to move asylum seekers from hotels in tatters after NAO report

Report also discloses approval was rushed through without developing safety plans or consulting councils

Rishi Sunak’s plan to save public money by moving asylum seekers out of hotels is in tatters after Whitehall’s spending watchdog disclosed that the government’s alternative sites will cost millions of pounds more.

The National Audit Office said attempts to place people seeking refuge in a barge, two former RAF bases and former student accommodation will cost £1.2bn – £46m more than keeping them in hotels.

The Home Office is considering scaling back the number of people at Wethersfield – which is in the constituency of the home secretary, James Cleverly – after reports of self-harm and violence among asylum seekers.

Officials secured large sites to house people before talking to local councils and MPs and used emergency planning regulations to ensure plans were rushed through.

The department pursued the programme despite “repeated” assessments that it “could not be delivered as planned”.

Reviews by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority rated the Home Office’s work on large-scale accommodation as “red”, meaning “successful delivery of the programme to time, cost and quality appears to be unachievable”.

The Home Office also rated its own performance as “red” as it recognised the challenges of the work, repeatedly revising accommodation targets “downwards”.

The department “prioritised awarding contracts quickly, and modifying existing contracts over fully-competitive tenders”, with “overly-ambitious accommodation timetables” leading to “increased procurement risks”.