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 £2.3 billion 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 and refugees in the UK.

It also said it was expected to have saved £500 million in asylum support costs in the last financial year, and that this had saved £200 million in ODA which had been passed

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