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- It was revealed that the Home Office is spending 拢4.7 million ($6.36 million) per day housing asylum seekers in hotels and providing for them
LONDON: Asylum seekers in Britain being housed in hotels have been told by the UK Home Office to pay for non-basic toiletries themselves, a letter has revealed.
People fleeing the Taliban, some of whom worked for the British military or authorities, say the latest move from the British government shows that it 鈥渄oes not care鈥� about them anymore.
that the Home Office is spending 拢4.7 million ($6.36 million) per day housing asylum seekers in hotels and providing for them 鈥� an estimated 拢127 per person.
Faiz Mohammad Seddeqi, 30, a former guard at the British Embassy in Kabul, is one such evacuee from Afghanistan and has been staying at one of the hotels for almost six months.
He was evacuated with his wife and son during the Taliban鈥檚 swift takeover of Afghanistan in August last year.
鈥淲hen we see this kind of reaction and decision from the Home Office, it means 鈥榝rom onward we don鈥檛 care about you and we are not concerned about you 鈥� you need to manage everything by yourself,鈥欌€� he said.
He said that the hotel in Watford where he and his family are staying is 鈥渘ot very clean鈥� and that the food they are given is 鈥渘ot good.鈥�
The letter he received, addressed from the Afghanistan Resettlement Arrivals Project at the Home Office, reads: 鈥淯ntil now, in addition to your Universal Credit payments and the accommodation and meals provided in the bridging hotels, we have also provided some additional items.
鈥淚 am writing to inform you that from Feb. 11 we will no longer provide those additional items and you will need to purchase these for yourself using your Universal Credit payments.鈥�
According to the letter, asylum seekers will still receive 鈥渕ain meals,鈥� including 鈥渂aby food and baby milk,鈥� but will no longer receive 鈥渃omplimentary snacks, toiletries (aside from basic toiletries) or over-the-counter medication.鈥�
The letter added: 鈥淵ou will need to pay your own transport or taxi fares to appointments,鈥� referencing the Home Office鈥檚 desire for those being resettled to find work.
鈥淎ll hotel residents continue to receive fully furnished accommodation, including a choice of three meals a day, constant access to drinking water, basic toiletries and their utility costs are covered,鈥� a Home Office spokesperson said.
Some 25,000 asylum seekers and 12,000 Afghan refugees are now staying in hotels in the UK, the Home Office told the Home Affairs Committee this week.
At the session, MPs were told that the UK government was 鈥渙ptimistic鈥� that it can find a revised way of working with councils on managing costs.
Meanwhile, Home Secretary Priti Patel said that the current policy toward housing the evacuees was 鈥渢horoughly inadequate,鈥� adding: 鈥淲e do not want people in hotels.鈥�
She said that the government and local authorities were 鈥渁bsolutely struggling鈥� to move Afghan refugees into more suitable, permanent accommodation, because the infrastructure to do so is 鈥渋nsufficient.鈥�