Mahmood said the new scheme would offer a higher payment
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced a trial scheme that will see families of failed asylum seekers offered up to £40,000 to leave the UK.
Mahmood said the government would forcibly remove failed asylum seekers if they do not accept “incentive payments” of up to £10,000 per person. The payment will be capped at four people per family.
Families will have seven days to accept the offer before the government begins removal proceedings.
The Home Office expects the scheme to target around 150 families currently living in taxpayer-funded accommodation.
Officials estimate the policy could save about £20m if the pilot programme proves successful.
Mahmood announced the scheme during a speech at the Institute for Public Policy Research, presenting the policy as part of the “Labour case” for tightening asylum support rules.
The government already runs a voluntary returns programme that offers asylum seekers up to £3,000 in financial support if they choose to leave the UK.
Mahmood said the new scheme would offer a higher payment while reducing public spending on asylum accommodation.
The home secretary said housing a family of three in asylum accommodation costs up to £158,000 per year.
She said the government wanted to provide an “increased incentive payment” that would represent a “significant saving to the taxpayer”. The policy echoes similar reforms introduced in Denmark.
Mahmood also said ministers were consulting on how to remove families with children who refuse to leave voluntarily “in a way that is humane and effective”.
She argued the current system has created “a perverse incentive” for some migrants to cross the English Channel with children.
Refugee charities criticised the proposal, warning families would have little time to seek advice.
The Refugee and Migrant Children’s Consortium 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 removing support for families could leave children homeless.
Opposition parties also criticised the payments.
Chris Philp said the payments were “an insult to the British taxpayer”.
Reform UK has previously suggested financial incentives for voluntary deportations. However, the party criticised the size of the proposed payments.
Zia Yusuf said £40,000 payments were “staggering” and “a prize for breaking in illegally”.
Government data shows there were 82,100 asylum applications in the UK in 2025, covering 100,600 individuals. About 58% of those applications were refused.
There were also 28,004 voluntary returns in the year to December 2025, a 5% increase compared with the previous year.
Shabana Mahmood used her speech to outline wider reforms to the asylum system.
Under new rules expected to take effect in June 2026, asylum seekers who commit crimes or work illegally will be removed from government-funded accommodation. They will also lose their support payments.
The government also plans to limit accommodation and financial support to “those who genuinely need it”.
Ministers have not yet set out full details of how the policy will operate.
The Conservative Party said Mahmood should go “much further” with migration controls.
Meanwhile, the Green Party of England and Wales accused the home secretary of echoing rhetoric used by the far right.
The Refugee Council warned the policy could increase rough sleeping. The charity said the cost burden could shift to local councils and the NHS.
Mahmood has already proposed several measures aimed at tightening the migration system.
These include making refugee status temporary and preventing people from four countries from applying for study visas.
Mahmood argued the changes would make the asylum system “compassionate but controlled”.
Some left-wing Labour MPs have called for a different approach following the party’s defeat to the Greens in last week’s by-election in Gorton and Denton.
About 100 Labour MPs have signed a private letter to Mahmood expressing concerns about plans to make refugee status temporary.
The letter said the policy could undermine “integration and cohesion”. It warned refugees could face removal even after living in the UK for up to 20 years.
In her speech, Shabana Mahmood defended the reforms.
She said that “restoring order and control at our border is not a betrayal of Labour values, it is an embodiment of them”, and insisted most Labour MPs supported the changes.
Mahmood also criticised the Greens and Reform UK during the address.
She accused the Green Party of wanting to create “a world without borders”. She also said the party supported “the most expensive and expansive migration policies anywhere in the world”.
A Green spokesperson rejected the claim, saying Mahmood was “deliberately misrepresenting Green Party policy”.
The party added that it recognises “the great contribution that migrants and refugees make to British society and we want to see policy that treats everyone with dignity rather than treating them harshly for political gain”.
Mahmood also criticised Reform UK’s approach to migration.
She said the party would oversee a “nightmare” of “pulling up the drawbridge and shutting out the world” if it formed a government.
Loading ...