Afghan refugees staying in hotels have been told by the Home Office that it will stop providing them with free access to non-basic toiletries and over-the-counter medication from next week.
According to a letter seen by the PA news agency, the measures will come into effect on 11 February.
Faiz Mohammad Seddeqi, a former guard at the British embassy in Kabul, has been staying in a hotel in Watford for almost six months after being evacuated from Afghanistan with his wife and son.
The 30-year-old, who received the letter on Thursday, told PA via an interpreter: “When we see this kind of reaction and decision from [the] Home Office, it means, ‘From now on, we don’t care about you, and we are not concerned about you – you need to manage everything by yourself.’”
Seddeqi’s brother, who also fled Afghanistan and wished to remain anonymous, said in response to the letter that he hoped those seeking asylum could feel “a little bit more” looked after by the UK government.
“It’s very difficult for every Afghan person [who] left their country and came here, because everything has destroyed our country – the infrastructure, our aims, our goals … Everything has just collapsed,” he said.
“They are coming here to the UK … There was no other safe place, no other place for them to leave and achieve their dreams.”
The letter, from the Afghanistan Resettlement Arrivals Project at the Home Office, reads: “Until now, in addition to your universal credit payments and the accommodation and meals provided in the bridging hotels, we have provided some additional items.
“I am writing to inform you that from 11 February we will no longer provide those additional items and you will need to purchase these for yourself using your universal credit payments.”
The letter states that the refugees will continue to receive “main meals”, including “baby food and baby milk”, but will no longer receive “complimentary snacks, toiletries [aside from basic toiletries] or over-the-counter medication”.
“You will need to pay your own transport or taxi fares to appointments,” the letter adds.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The use of hotels to house those resettled from Afghanistan is a short-term solution and we are working with local authorities to find appropriate long term accommodation for them.
“As the hotel residents are now receiving universal credit, which covers the costs of their essential items, we advised they’d no longer receive the additional funding. All hotel residents continue to receive fully furnished accommodation, including a choice of three meals a day, constant access to drinking water, basic toiletries and their utility costs are covered.”
It was revealed earlier this week that the UK government is spending £4.7m a day housing asylum seekers in hotels, an estimated £127 per person. There are currently 25,000 asylum seekers and 12,000 Afghan refugees in hotels, the Home Office told the home affairs committee on Wednesday.
MPs were told the government was “optimistic” that it would find a new way of working with councils “on how we manage these costs”.
The home secretary, Priti Patel, said the policy was “thoroughly inadequate”, adding: “We do not want people in hotels.”
She also said the government and local authorities were struggling to move Afghan refugees into more suitable, permanent accommodation as the country does not have sufficient infrastructure.
• This article was amended on 5 February 2022 to add a statement from a Home Office spokesperson that was provided after publication. Also, an earlier version incorrectly described the Afghan refugees concerned as “asylum seekers”.
