Yvette Cooper is tasked with controlling the UK asylum system.

The Home Office plans to spend about £2.2 billion of foreign aid to support asylum seekers this financial year, according to new figures.

The amount of overseas development assistance (ODA) budgeted by the Home Office – which is largely used to cover accommodation costs such as hotels for asylum seekers – is slightly less than the £2.3bn it spent in 2024/25.

International rules allow countries to count first-year costs of supporting refugees as overseas development assistance (ODA).

The figures, first reported by the BBC, were published in recent days on the Home Office website.

The Home Office said it is “urgently taking action to restore order and reduce costs” which will cut the amount spent to support asylum seekers

See Full Page