Families of failed asylum seekers could receive up to £40,000 to leave the United Kingdom (UK) under a pilot scheme announced by Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary.
Under the plan, families would be offered financial support of up to £10,000 per person, capped at four members per household. Mahmood said those who refuse the payment and do not agree to leave within seven days could face forced removal from the UK.
The scheme is expected to target around 150 families currently living in taxpayer-funded accommodation.
According to the Home Office estimates, if the programme succeeds, it could save about £20 million in public spending.
Speaking on Thursday at the think tank Institute for Public Policy Research, Mahmood set out what she described as the “Labour case” for tightening support for some asylum seekers.
She said the government wanted to introduce an “increased incentive payment” that would still represent “a significant saving to the taxpayer”, noting that accommodating a family of three in asylum housing can cost up to £158,000 a year.
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The government already operates a voluntary returns programme, which offers asylum seekers up to £3,000 if they choose to return to their home country.
Mahmood also said ministers were considering how to remove families with children who refuse to leave voluntarily. “We are consulting on how to do this in a way that is humane and effective,” she said.
She argued that the current system had created “a perverse incentive” for people to cross the Channel with children because families are rarely removed once they arrive.
However, critics have raised concerns about the proposal. The Refugee and Migrant Children’s Consortium, a coalition of around 100 organisations, said families would have “just a week to make a potentially life-changing decision” without “time to access legal advice”.
The group also warned that cutting support could leave some children homeless.
Opposition parties also criticised the scheme. Chris Philp, Conservative shadow home secretary, described the payments as “an insult to the British taxpayer”.
Meanwhile, Reform UK, which has previously suggested financial incentives for voluntary deportations, also criticised the size of the payments. The party’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf said £40,000 payments were “staggering” and “a prize for breaking in illegally”.
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A government source rejected suggestions that the payments would encourage illegal migration, arguing that smugglers typically charge between £15,000 and £35,000 per migrant to reach the UK. According to the source, travelling to Britain would therefore still cost more than the incentive offered to leave.
Official figures show that in 2025, there were 82,100 asylum applications in the UK, covering about 100,600 individuals. Of those cases, around 58 percent were refused.
In the same period, 28,004 people left the country through voluntary returns, a 5 percent increase compared with the previous year.
Mahmood also announced that asylum seekers who commit crimes or work illegally will be removed from government-funded accommodation and lose their financial support.
Under new measures expected to take effect in June, the government plans to restrict housing and support to “those who genuinely need it”, although further details have not yet been published.
