The United Kingdom will pay Rwanda at least £370 million as part of its plan to relocate asylum seekers.
The details were revealed in a report issued by the country’s National Audit Office (NAO) on Friday.
In April 2022, the United Kingdom announced that it had formed a migration partnership with Rwanda.
The partnership is part of the government’s third-country asylum processing policy, which involves relocating individuals who have been identified as illegally residing in the UK or seeking asylum after arriving illegally in a safe third country.
The UK government provides development funding to Rwanda through the partnership and will cover processing and integration costs for each relocated person.
The Home Office is in charge of administering the partnership.
As of last month, the Home Office had sent £220 million to Rwanda.
The UK also agreed to make £50 million installment payments in April 2024, 2025, and 2026.
According to the BBC, each person sent to the East African country will receive up to £150,000 over five years.
The NAO report’s new figures were described as a “national scandal” by Labour.
However, the Home Office stated that “doing nothing is not without significant costs”.
A spokesperson for the Home Office stated, “Unless we act, the cost of housing asylum seekers is set to reach £11 billion per year by 2026.”
“Illegal migration costs live and perpetuates human trafficking, and it is therefore right that we fund solutions to break this unsustainable cycle,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying.
