The number of asylum seekers being housed temporarily in UK hotels has risen by 13% in three months, new figures show.
There were 36,273 people staying in such accommodation in September, while they await a decision on their asylum claims.
The issue has come to the fore in recent times with protests outside hotels.
Last month, the Government announced that two barracks in Scotland and southern England would be used to house around 900 men temporarily, as part of Government efforts to stop using hotels to temporarily house asylum seekers.
Labour has pledged to no longer be using asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament – which would be 2029, if not earlier.
But the latest data showed an increase, from 32,041 in June to 36,273 in September.
The number was also up on the same point last year, when there were 35,628 asylum seekers in hotels.
The number of asylum seekers in hotels peaked at 56,018 at the end of September 2023 under the then-Conservative government but dropped to a record low of 29,561 in June 2024 just before the general election.
Figures for hotels published by the Home Office on Thursday date back to December 2022.
