Refugees living in Metropole Hotel to be reminded they could always go home

PLUS: Fallout from Blackpool Council's adult social care services being rated as inadequate

Hello and welcome to The Blackpool Lead.

We report today on a visit The Home Office will be paying to the Metropole Hotel to remind refugees waiting for a decision that they can go home if they’d prefer.

To many that would seem a sensible move on the surface. Their presence in the Metropole is a source of constant controversy, with more low-profile (and entirely peaceful from what we could see) protests being held outside on Saturday.

But while a central Blackpool location might be inappropriate, there are legitimate concerns over the approach.

The conditions within the hotel were called into question recently in our special report which made clear a number of issues - along with the point that some asylum seekers can wait years for a decision on whether they will be allowed to stay.

So the concern is that asking people to wait for a significant period of time in such conditions, before then visiting in-person to tell people they can go home, could be seen as coercive.

The Home Office maintains that any return home must be voluntary if a decision has not yet been made.

We also report in some depth on the fallout from Blackpool Council's adult social care services being rated as inadequate. There are calls for the council leader to step down, but The Blackpool Lead can report today that there are no plans to change the team heading up those services.

Concerns raised that in-person Home Office visit may be coercive

The Metropole in Blackpool. Credit: The Blackpool Lead

By Luke Beardsworth

Refugees at the Metropole Hotel will soon be paid a visit in which they will be reminded of the opportunity to return home.

The Metropole Hotel, run in its current form by Serco and owned by Britannia, is controversial for a number of reasons including concerns about the conditions of the hotel where the refugees wait for their asylum decision and the strength of local opposition that is mirrored at other sites around the UK.

Both Chris Webb, MP for Blackpool South, and Blackpool Council have repeatedly said the site is inappropriate for housing asylum seekers for those reasons and its proximity to some of the busiest areas in Blackpool.

Refugees waiting for their asylum decision can have it in a number of months, but it is not unusual for it to take over a year. During that time, refugees are unable to work legally and are given an allowance to spend on essentials. There have been proven concerns that refugees have been working cash-in-hand to make extra income.

Now, The Blackpool Lead has learned that Home Office officials will visit the hotel to give information about options for returning home.

A message sent to refugees reads: “We’re planning to visit your hotel soon. We are there to give information about the voluntary return service.

“We would like you to come and join us to make sure everyone has the right information - did you know we might be able to help you return home if that’s something you’re considering?”

The voluntary return service is the means by which the Home Office helps people to return to their home country if they do not yet have permission to remain in the UK. The Home Office explains options for returning home, helps with getting travel documents and will even pay for travel tickets if a refugee can demonstrate they are unable to.

But concerns have been raised that an in-person briefing on the return service, which we were told isn’t something The Home Office has carried out at the Metropole before, could be seen as coercive, particularly in light of the conditions in the hotel.

Samantha Arden, a former housing officer at The Metropole Hotel who was the whistleblower concerned about the conditions of refugees there when speaking to The Blackpool Lead last month, said: “Home Office visits to asylum accommodation to promote the voluntary return service might sound harmless on paper, but in reality, they’re targeting people who are living in unsafe, overcrowded conditions with limited access to independent legal advice.

“When someone’s basic needs aren’t being met, presenting ‘return home’ as an option can’t truly be considered voluntary, it’s coercion made to look like a choice. These visits risk exploiting vulnerability instead of addressing it, and avoiding public scrutiny by calling them ‘operational matters’ is unacceptable.

“Coercive behaviour, no matter where it comes from, is wrong. In fact, coercive behaviour is recognised in law as a form of abuse, so the Home Office should be asking itself what side of that line it’s standing on.”

The Home Office said that it was unable to comment on operational matters when approached by The Blackpool Lead. We had asked them to set out the strategy behind the voluntary return service and how it fits with the 1951 Refugee Convention which states that people cannot be coerced to return home, particularly if they face a real risk of persecution upon return. We also asked if the in-person briefing was happening at other asylum seeker hotels and if they had happened before.

The Metropole: Closer to a prison than a holiday for asylum seekers

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Blackpool Council accused of downplaying critical report into failing adult social care services

By Michael Holmes

Town hall bosses have been accused of “downplaying the seriousness” of a critical report into Blackpool’s failing adult social care services - with no heads set to roll over the crisis.