Three people who left a Mansfield hotel to make way for asylum seekers were not homeless, a council report has shown. The Home Office and its contractor Serco placed 34 people into the unnamed hotel on November 12 as they tackle an unprecedented backlog in asylum claims.
At the time, Councillor Ben Bradley, Mansfield 's Conservative MP and the Nottinghamshire County Council leader, described the hotel as "not the right area" to house them. He also revealed three people were "turfed out" of the hotel and then presented themselves to Mansfield District Council as homeless.
But now the council has revealed three assessments later took place and none of the three met the criteria to be classed as homeless rough sleepers. They have since found alternative accommodation, the authority added. It follows claims from local politicians that both Serco and the Home Office were not handling the situation well and had not communicated properly with local authorities.
