‘Like it or lump it!’ Migrants benefit threat if they refuse Bibby Stockholm bed

Sally Nugent grills MP Robert Jenrick over Bibby Stockholm

Migrants are being told they have a week to accept a bed on the Bibby Stockholm or they will lose their benefits, Government documents have revealed.

Home Office caseworkers were on Wednesday told they “must take steps” to cancel the support asylum seekers receive if they do not board the vessel moored in Portland, Dorset.

This will leave them without access to cash and free accommodation, Government guidance shows.

And those refusing to leave their hotel accommodation will be treated as “trespassers”.

Some 50 Channel migrants are currently staying on the Bibby Stockholm, with more expected to arrive this week.

It comes as local councils fear there will be a surge in homeless migrants as the Government begins to cancel hotel contracts costing taxpayers £8 million a day.

The Local Government Association has warned local authorities may be forced to house migrants in the very hotels the Government has announced it is barring from being used for asylum seekers.

Guidance sent to Home Office staff said: “If a supported person fails to take up the offer of accommodation on the vessel after the 5 working days, support will be discontinued, in line with a breach of conditions of support. The individual will no longer be able to access Home Office accommodation and will not be able to access subsistence (cash) support.

“The Home Office will take reasonable steps to notify them that their support has been discontinued.

“This notification will explain that their actions have resulted in them being unable to access support.

“Where an individual fails to travel to their accommodation, caseworkers must take steps to discontinue the support.”

A Home Office source said: “We’re getting migrants out of hotels and onto the barge which is perfectly suitable accommodation.

“If they don’t want to go on, then their support will be stopped – it’s as simple as that. Like it or lump it.”

Beds on the Bibby Stockholm will “remain open” for five days after the migrant has been ordered to leave a hotel room.

They will need “professional evidence of exceptional circumstances” if they miss the deadline to appeal the decision.

The first hotel contracts to be terminated will be four-star hotels which have include country homes and luxury flats. 

Migrants will be moved to larger accommodation sites, including former RAF bases – RAF Wethersfield in Essex and RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire – and the Bibby Stockholm.

Government sources said ministers have been able to begin cancelling hotel contracts because crossings are down by around 30 per cent.

Some 26,553 asylum seekers have crossed the Channel so far this year, down from almost 38,000 this time last year.

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Shaun Davies, chairman of the LGA, said councils were legally obliged to find somewhere to stay for the large numbers of refugees representing as homeless after leaving hotel accommodation when their asylum application was processed.

Mr Davies said: “We’ve got a housing shortage, we’ve got a huge demand on temporary accommodation, and we’ve got councils in financial strain.”

Mr Davies questioned where local governments were supposed to house refugees once they became councils’ responsibilities.

He added: “If not those hotels, then where?

“That’s the irony in this situation, that one part of the system might boast that they’re doing relatively well but actually, that’s shunting the issue and the cost to local taxpayers,” he said.

Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick has reassured local authorities that the government would “limit the impact on local communities”.

But Mr Davies said he was frustrated that the government had not seen the LGA as “a key stakeholder or consultee” in the build-up to yesterday’s announcement.

He called on the government to publish the list of the 50 hotels that would be wound down and provide further funding for councils struggling to cope with the pressure.

Mr Davies said: “The deep irony is that it might be the same hotels that the government are looking to close down for their purposes, are the very same hotels that local authorities will have to stand up and fund for temporary accommodation.”

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