According to a report, the Home Office's eligibility for official funding is at risk due to the implementation of the Illegal Migration bill. The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI), an independent watchdog assessing government spending on domestic and foreign aid, conducted this analysis.
The report reveals that the Home Office may potentially lose up to £3.6 billion in funding from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). This potential loss of funding stems from how specific categories of aid are classified.
As the ICAI report outlines, a portion of the Home Office's expenditures on refugees and asylum seekers is categorised as Official Development Assistance (ODA). ODA typically covers expenses such as the initial year's housing and food costs for refugees and is primarily funded by the FCDO rather than the Home Office's own budget.
However, ODA comes with a stipulation that it must be utilised exclusively for humanitarian purposes and cannot be used for purposes involving "coercion," such as detention or deportation. Consequently, asylum seekers who enter the UK through means considered "illegal" according to the Illegal Migration bill would not be eligible for ODA, as they would be automatically detained and marked for removal by the Home Office.
This report follows the news that Home Office spending on asylum reached nearly £4 billion in the year ending June 2023.