Overview
- The Home Office ran a seven‑day pilot offering up to £10,000 per person, capped at £40,000 per family, to roughly 150 families with rejected asylum claims in hotel accommodation.
- Officials have not disclosed how many people accepted the offer since the pilot concluded last week.
- Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood says the Denmark‑inspired incentive could save £20m, citing accommodation costs of up to £158,000 a year for a family of three.
- Danish data show about 700 people used a more generous voluntary return scheme in 2025, and experts argue return decisions hinge more on safety and prospects at home than on cash.
- Critics warn the payouts could incentivise irregular arrivals and be exploited by traffickers, while a separate £3,000 UK return scheme saw around 10,000 departures last year against roughly 80,000 refusals in 2025.