Government to ban asylum seekers from using taxis

The government has announced that asylum seekers will be banned from using taxis for medical appointments from February.

This comes after a BBC investigation revealed some people travel long distances by taxi; One of the refugees said they made a 250-mile journey to see a GP. Cost the Home Office £600.

In contrast the government launched an urgent investigation Use and cost of taxis to take asylum seekers from their hotels to their appointments in September.

The government has confirmed it spends an average of £15.8 million a year on transport for asylum seekers.

Earlier this year, BBC Radio 4’s File Four It found that refugees were given bus tickets for the return trip once a week. For other essential travel, such as doctor’s appointments, taxis were used, including a 250-mile trip to the GP.

And on Friday a subcontractor told the BBC his firm would make up to 15 deliveries a day from a hotel in south-east London to a doctor’s surgery about two miles away. These trips alone would cost the Home Office £1,000 a day, he said.

However, Home Affairs Minister Shabana Mahmood said this will now change.

He said: “I am ending asylum seekers’ unlimited use of taxis to hospital appointments and only allowing them in very exceptional circumstances.

“I will continue to root out waste while closing all asylum hotels.”

He said the government had inherited expensive Conservative contracts.

Ministers want asylum seekers to use alternatives such as public transport instead of taxis.

Some exemptions will apply for people with physical disabilities, chronic illnesses, and pregnancy-related needs. According to the new rules, these will need to be signed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

There are other situations in which taxis can be used (such as moving between accommodation) but ministers are reviewing their wider use for asylum seekers and want to extend with supporting evidence the principle that they should only be used in exceptional circumstances.

Ministers have vowed to end the use of asylum hotels by the next election. They want to increase the use of alternative accommodation, such as large military sites.

But figures earlier this week showed 36,273 people were still living in asylum hotels in England, an increase on June.

There has also been criticism regarding the increasing cost of running refugee accommodation, which has increased significantly since the contracts were signed.

When the home secretary was asked in an interview with the BBC earlier this year whether the government was prepared to enforce termination clauses in contracts with service providers, Mahmood said he would explore all options.

However, doing this means alternative accommodation must be found.

The government has also announced major changes to overhaul the asylum system, such as making refugee status temporary and ending guaranteed housing support for asylum seekers.

Government took back £74 million since coming to power – but the chairman of the home affairs select committee said this was only the beginning.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “The problem is Labor’s failure to grasp the illegal immigration crisis.

“Labour has allowed the costs of illegal entry to spiral while hitting working people with £26bn tax increases because Labor does not have the backbone to make the tough decisions needed. That is, deporting all illegal arrivals and leaving the ECHR. Until that happens, the bills will continue to rise.”