Migrants With Benefits
The free benefits the UK government bestows on illegal migrants are staggering.
Why Migrants Love the UK
Wondering why migrants pass through several safe countries, without claiming asylum, and undertake the perilous channel crossing to claim in the UK instead? Well, set out below are some of the main benefits we bestow on migrants and asylum seekers.
Free Accommodation
This could be a hotel, hostel or private housing (sometimes referred to as houses of multiple occupancy or HMOs). Migrants don't get to choose where they live, but some simply refuse to leave their hotel when offered cheaper accommodation.
Free Money
Each migrant receives £49.18 a week for clothes, food and toiletries. The funds are loaded onto an ATM card so they can withdraw the cash and use it for whatever they like. This is reduced to £9.95 if their accommodation provides meals.
Free Healthcare
Migrants are entitled to free NHS healthcare and hospital treatment. This is often provided by private practitioners "in order not to burden the NHS". They're also entitled to free prescriptions.
Free Sight Tests
Yes, you saw that right. Migrants are entitled to free eyesight tests. If they need glasses, they can get help paying for those, too.
Free Dental Care
It's important to look after your teeth and gums. Migrants receive free dental care. There's no need for them to hustle trying to get onto the list of their local NHS dentist.
Maternity Support
Migrants can get a £300 grant if their child is less than 6 months old or due in 11 weeks or less. Pregnant mothers also receive an extra £5.25 per week. They get an extra £9.50 a week for babies under 1 year, falling to £5.25 for children under 3 years.
Education
Children between the ages of 5-17 receive free schooling. They may also be entitled to free school meals.
Work
Migrants are encouraged to volunteer for unpaid work (we couldn't find any stats on how many do so). If an asylum claim is more than 12 months old migrants can apply for permission to do paid work.
Legal Aid
Migrants can receive legal aid to support their asylum claim. They can also get support to appeal a failed claim.
Free Tech
Many migrants receive free mobile phones and laptops. The majority of the hotels offer their "residents" free wifi.
Free Fitness
Migrants can use hotel gyms FOC. They can also access push bikes (which are absolutely not used to moonlight delivering fast food).
Free Taxis
Migrants are offered free taxis to get to/from appointments. Some hotels (e.g. The Chimney House in Sandbach) have had bus stops installed outside.
Our statutory obligations to provide these benefits are derived largely from the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 and the EU Reception Conditions Directive 2003/9/EC. The numbers are sourced from the UK government’s own website, and are correct as at July 2025. The point is, we don’t have to do this. We can simply change the regulations.
Once a migrant’s asylum claim is accepted, they’re on their way to being able to claim many of the same benefits usually available to UK citizens – the right to work, schooling, access to the NHS, universal credit, child benefit… the list is almost endless.
This is not therefore a temporary problem. We will be paying for the majority of these people long after they leave their migrant accommodation.
What You Can Do
Help us maintain hotel data on this site
We crowdsource hotel data. You can help keep this up-to-date by providing us with intelligence on migrant sites.
Help us establish a HMO database
There is even less data on homes of multiple occupancy (HMOs) than there is on hotels. You can help us create an HMO database.
Share this site via your social media
Please share this site freely via your social media presence. We've provided a series of links to the main networks below.
Share Us On Social Media
One of the main objectives of this site is to inform the public about locations being used to house migrants in their area. The sites are not classified or officially secret, but the government refuses to publish an official list of them. We believe the people paying for these facilities have a right to know where they are.
Please help create this transparency by sharing a link to this site on your socials. All you need to do is click on the relevant link(s) above.