You may be aware that the Home Office have placed a number of people seeking asylum in a local hotel while their asylum application is assessed.
Central Government has a statutory duty to accommodate people who are seeking asylum. An asylum seeker is someone who has left their country, often suddenly, because they are faced with persecution, war or violence and cannot get protection there. Due to the number of boats that cross the English Channel continuing to rise the Home Office is having to rely on using a range of approaches across the country to provide accommodation for those who have fled their country.
The decision by the Home Office to use a property in Tamworth for asylum seeker accommodation has happened very quickly. A formal expression of concern was made to the Home Office for use of a local hotel due to its prominence at the heart of the town and tourism economy.
The council and local health providers were given no formal notice by the Home Office of their decision to officially ‘stand up’ or activate the hotel and home those seeking asylum.
Now the hotel is in use, the Home Office through their approved contractor is providing support on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week along with security staff. This is all being funded by the Home Office.
The asylum seekers have now arrived safely at the hotel. Please be mindful that not all of these individuals will understand English, and they may have had a very difficult experience before arriving here. We would be grateful for your patience and understanding at what will be a worrying and confusing time for them.
We know you will have a lot of questions about this situation, how this happened so quickly and what the council’s involvement is. We have put together a number of responses to some frequently asked questions below which will hopefully help in understanding what’s going on. We will continue to update these.