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A whistle-blower working in migrant hotels has warned asylum seekers are disappearing on a daily basis. The contractor, who hasn't been named, said people are regularly absconding from hotels. This is despite Government efforts to tighten the UK's asylum system.

He said migrants are processed as absconders after about one week away from their hotel and "nothing really happens". The whistle-blower said it happens weekly and can happen daily.

He told Sky News that failed asylum seekers are notified when they have to move out of their hotels, but immigration enforcement doesn't visit their accommodation in order to remove them.

The man told the broadcaster some migrants just walk out with no checks or help, adding: "It must be terrifying for these people as well....How do they survive?...For those people to be freely allowed, undetected and unchecked, on the streets of this country is terrifying."

Just over 32,000 asylum seekers were in hotel accommodation as of June this year, according to the latest available government figures.

This was 8% higher than the end of June the year before, but 43% lower than the 56,042 peak recorded at the end of September 2023.

The Government has acknowledged hotel accommodation can act as a pull factor for migrants, with people smugglers using the prospect of a hotel bed as a lure to get asylum seekers into small boats.

Ministers plan to end the use of asylum hotels by 2029 at the latest, with a move towards using other sites, such as military camps, for accommodation instead.

But announcements that Cameron Barracks in Inverness and Crowborough Training Camp in East Sussex were earmarked for such uses sparked opposition among locals.

A Home Office spokesperson said in response to the whistle-blower's claims: "This Government will end the use of hotels and have introduced major reforms to the asylum system, to scale up removals of people with no right to be here and address the factors drawing illegal migrants to the UK in the first place.

"Nearly 50,000 people with no right to be in our country have been removed and enforcement arrests to tackle illegal working are at the highest level in recent history."

They added that a dedicated team in the Home Office works with police, across Government and commercial companies to trace absconders.

The spokesperson said: "Failure to return to a hotel can also lead to asylum claims and support being withdrawn."