The department replaced 22 contracts with six larger regional contracts, but the committee found that the Home Office “only allowed three months to get the new contracts up and running.”
Two of the three big contractors – G4S and Serco – had no previous experience of accommodating asylum-seekers, said the report, and “the standard of the accommodation provided has often been unacceptably poor for a very fragile group of individuals and families.”
The Home Office said the contracts have saved £8m in their first six months, and that the NAO had “found that the transition to our new providers was well-managed and noted that operational performance is improving.” A spokesman called PAC’s findings “disappointing”.