"The quality of the food is so bad and it’s inedible... One of my daughters had food poisoning, she went to hospital... they lost weight." – A mother living in an asylum hotel with her family.

Everyone, regardless of who they are or where they come from, has the right to healthy, safe food for themselves and their children.

But at Sufra, we see firsthand that this human right is being denied – every single day.

Our Advice Team support dozens of asylum seekers – many of them living in so-called 'asylum hotels' across the borough. The government has pledged to end the use of these hotels by 2029, but in April 2026, there were still 600 people in Brent’s asylum hotels who urgently need support.

What we are seeing on the frontline is heartbreaking and unacceptable. Some of our guests, and their children, are telling us that they are getting physically sick from the food they are forced to eat.

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“The food is appalling… when you open the kitchen door, you can smell the rotting food” – Asylum seeker, living in a Brent hotel.

The Evidence: Two Key Barriers to a Healthy Diet

To expose the reality of this crisis, we partnered with the SALIENT Consortium, including academics from the University of Hertfordshire, to carry out the first piece of academic research into food support accessed by Asylum Seekers, and the impact on diet. The study captured the lived experiences of 22 asylum seekers we support at Sufra, all living in contingency hotels, alongside insights from 5 of our staff who work on the frontlines.

Read the Full Report here: From Asylum Hotels to Food Banks

The research identified two fundamental barriers preventing asylum seekers from having an adequate diet:

1. The Immigration System: Banned from working and subjected to long, uncertain waits, asylum seekers lack the financial resources to feed themselves.
2. Asylum Hotel Food: Residents are stripped of their agency, forced to rely on hotel catering that is substandard, highly processed, and often completely inedible.

Because hotel rooms offer no cooking or cold storage facilities, residents are stuck with this provision. The study found that catering sub-contractors give little to no consideration to dietary preferences, medical restrictions, or the developmental needs of growing children.
As a result, vulnerable people are suffering from severe malnutrition, rapid weight loss, dental decay, and poor mental health. Unable to safely feed their children, families are increasingly forced to turn to Sufra just to survive.

A Crisis on the Move

As the Government begins to bring former military sites online to replace hotels, there is a severe risk that this exact problem will simply be moved elsewhere.

For example, sites like Crowborough Training Barracks do not have self-catering facilities. This means food will continue to be provided by subcontractors who have clearly demonstrated they have very little care for the dietary and health needs of the individuals in their care.

Our Recommendations for Policymakers

We are calling on the government to act. To restore dignity and dietary adequacy, policymakers must transition away from inadequate catering contracts and instead mandate the provision of self-catering facilities or direct cash support.

By giving individuals the autonomy to buy and cook their own meals, we can eliminate this entirely preventable chronic health crisis – and the cost of treating its consequences in the future.

In the interim, it must be legally mandated that any food provided in asylum facilities meets the fundamental nutritional needs of the people waiting for their claims to be decided.

Stand With Us

At Sufra, we refuse to look the other way. Through our OpenARMs programme, we are providing wrap-around support, advocacy and culturally appropriate emergency food to vulnerable migrants forced into these impossible situations.

But we cannot do it without you.

Donate to support our work with asylum seekers today
Read the Full Report: From Asylum Hotels to Food Banks

For more information, please contact:
Shai Jacobs
Head of Advice, Sufra NW London
Shai@sufra-nwlondon.org.uk