(Picture: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
Plans to house migrants in basic accommodation will cost £46 million more than putting them in hotels.
Using former military bases and purposely built housing such as the Bibby Stockholm barge could cost £1,200,000,000, a spending watchdog has found.
The extra cost of this could, in theory, help lift councils out of administration, including Nottingham which has a £23,000,000 overspend.
It could also help pay for around 645,000 pothole repairs.
On a smaller scale, that money could buy you nearly 3,300,000 loaves of white bread or about 920,000 pints of beer.
In January then-immigration minister Robert Jenrick said 50 migrant hotels would be shut in an attempt to save money as purpose-built sites are erected instead.
A government source told the Daily Mail: ‘We are getting the most egregious examples of luxurious hotels off our books first.
‘The country manor houses and the stately home-style properties will be the first to go.
‘We’ve been very clear that we can’t let this drag on any more. It’s been a complete disgrace.’
The Bibby Stockholm immigration barge (Picture: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images)
The audit, published today by the National Audit Office, pointed out the migrant accommodation facilities are housing fewer people than expected.
This includes a former RAF base at Wethersfield, Essex, which housed 576 men in January when it was meant to house 1,445.
Lincolnshire’s Scampton base also houses 800 people rather than the original 2,000.
The Home Office expects to spend at least £230,000,000 developing a student hall in Huddersfield and the Bibby Stockholm in Dorset.
The National Audit Office said: ‘The Home Office originally assessed that large sites would be around £94,000,000 cheaper than hotels.
‘Its latest estimates suggest they will cost £46,000,000 more than using hotels.’
Auditors said Home Office officials underestimated how much it would cost to set up Wethersfield and Scampton.
In January then-immigration minister Robert Jenrick said 50 migrant hotels would be shut (Picture: Martin Pope/Getty Images)
The cost of hotel rooms also fell to £127, when they were predicted to rise to £143.
The Home Office disputed the watchdog’s report and said that, according to Treasury fiscal guidelines, the sites are £153,000,000 cheaper than hotels.
A spokesperson said: ‘We have always been clear that the use of asylum hotels is unacceptable, and that’s why we acted swiftly to reduce the impact on local communities by moving asylum seekers onto barges and former military sites.
‘While we must provide adequate accommodation for asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute, thanks to the actions we have taken to maximise use of existing space and our work to cut small boat crossings by a third last year, the cost of hotels will fall – and we are now closing dozens of asylum hotels every month to return them to communities.
‘While the NAO’s figures include set up costs, it is currently better value for money for the taxpayer to continue with these sites than to use hotels.’
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