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Paying failed asylum seekers to leave the UK is necessary to enforce the rules, says home secretary
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March 5, 2026
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39:53Now PlayingThe home secretary has defended her decision to introduce payments for failed asylum seekers if they willingly leave the UK.
Under the plans Shabana Mahmood outlined this morning, she said that those who have had their asylum claim rejected can receive £10,000 if they agree to go, and up to £40,000 per family.
But asked about how she can justify paying a sum greater than the median disposable income in the UK to failed asylum seekers, she told Sky News: "We've got to enforce our law. Look, I know it sticks in the jaw of people. And it's not something that you feel absolutely automatically comfortable with."
Mahmood added: "So what I've announced is a pilot where we are going to test this new approach, a small set of families who are failed asylum seekers, they've exhausted all of their appeal rights and they've got no right to be in this country.
"We will offer them this set of money in order to go quietly, to leave and return to their home country. If they don't, they will face an enforced removal."
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