ITV investigation questions welfare checks at Sussex asylum site

An undercover ITV investigation found that welfare checks at Crowborough, an asylum accommodation site in East Sussex, may be inadequate, and that torture survivors may have been placed there unlawfully. The findings raise concerns about the government’s use of former military sites as it seeks to move asylum seekers out of hotels.

Clearsprings Ready Homes is supposed to conduct two comprehensive welfare checks per person each month, with about 1,000 checks due monthly at Crowborough. Filmed staff appeared to describe cutting corners, falling behind and not following up on risk flags; the reporter said he identified four or five torture survivors who should not have been sent there. A High Court ruling last May found unlawful a Home Office policy requiring torture survivors to share rooms.