Home Office to send asylum seekers back to Bibby Stockholm barge

The Home Office said it was necessary to move asylum seekers to the Bibby Stockholm to reduce the cost of accommodating them in hotels. Photograph: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images

The Home Office plans to return asylum seekers to the Bibby Stockholm barge next week following a lengthy evacuation after legionella was found there.

Thirty-nine people were briefly accommodated on the barge between 7 and 11 August but were evacuated after the discovery of legionella, which was confirmed on the day they arrived.