Failed asylum seekers will be paid up to £40k to leave the UK, Shabana Mahmood announces

Home Office will detain and deport families with children if they do not accept financial payments to leave NewsUKHome NewsFailed asylum seekers will be paid up to £40k to leave the UK, Shabana Mahmood announcesHome Office will detain and deport families with children if they do not accept financial payments to leave Holly Bancroft Home Affairs Correspondent Thursday 05 March 2026 15:13 GMTBookmarkCommentsGo to commentsBookmark popoverRemoved from bookmarksClose popoverHome Secretary announces changes to permanent settlement in UKYour support helps us to tell the storyRead moreSupport NowFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreFailed asylum seeker families with children will be offered up to £40,000 to leave the country quickly or face being deported, Shabana Mahmood has announced.As part of the home secretary’s immigration overhaul, a pilot scheme has been launched for 150 families who are living in migrant hotels, with offers already sent out.The families will be offered £10,000 per member, capped at four per family, to leave the UK voluntarily. They will have seven days to reply and if they do not take up the offer, the Home Office will attempt to forcibly remove them from the country.Ms Mahmood told an event in Westminster on Thursday that the Home Office will launch a consultation on how to remove families with children legally, including considering how force can be used against children. If the pilot is successful, government will extend it to all failed asylum seeker families. open image in galleryShabana Mahmood unveiled the plans at an Institute for Public Policy Research event in London (PA Wire)Officials say that the pilot scheme will offer value for money for the taxpayer, with the average family of three costing around £158,000 to house in an asylum hotel for a year. But charities and campaigners warned that detaining young children, even for short periods, would be “traumatising” and said the plans risk creating “chaos rather than control”. Reform UK likened Labour’s plans to “offering up a £40,000 prize to those who break in”, while Green Party leader Zack Polanksi said Ms Mahmood was “desperate” and “dangerous”. Imran Hussain, a director at the Refugee Council, said the seven day ultimatum would not encourage families to engage with the process. He said: “Giving families just seven days to decide whether to uproot their children’s lives, often without access to proper legal advice, risks creating chaos rather than control. Many families simply do not feel safe to return to their countries of origin. And nobody wants to see distressed children detained and forced onto deportation flights.“Families are far more likely to engage if given proper time, support and legal advice – making it more effective, and better value for the taxpayer.”Kamena Dorling, Director of Policy at Helen Bamber Foundation Group, said: “Reintroducing child detention and imposing forced destitution to coerce families to leave the UK has already been proven ineffective and will cause significant harm."Dr Ilona Pinter, researcher on families in the asylum system at the London School of Economics, said financial incentives would “create further animosity and stoke resentment against families seeking safety”. She added: “Forced removals are expensive for the Home Office so it would prefer families to leave without the need for detention and enforcement action. But ultimately, if families do not feel safe returning to their country of origin, they will not take this scheme.”Children can only be held in immigration detention with their families for up to 72 hours, or for seven days with ministerial approval. The Home Office does not know how many failed asylum-seeking families they are housing in migrant hotels. The Independent revealed last year that the UK has paid migrants £53m to leave the country between 2021 and 2024. Under current policy, migrants can receive up to £3,000 as an incentive to return home as part of what are known as “assisted returns”. open image in galleryGreen Party leader Zack Polanski described Ms Mahmood’s plans as ‘dangerous’ (PA)On whether the pilot payments act as a draw to the UK, a Home Office source said: “Our intelligence shows people smugglers charge betw