Privately-run asylum seeker housing for mothers with babies 'riddled with cockroaches, rodents and bedbugs'

Accommodation branded 'not fit for purpose' by Labour as women forced to stay in filthy conditions for months

Dead cockroaches and a mouse in a Manchester property for asylum seekers (John Grayson)

Outsourcing giant Serco has admitted housing mothers and children in a property for asylum seekers riddled with cockroaches, rodents and bedbugs.

Women in the mixed-gender building in Manchester said they had been forced to stay in the filthy conditions for months.

The revelation came just days after lawyers warned the Home Office is unlawfully holding asylum seekers in immigration detention, despite courts ruling they can be released.

Three mothers and their children living on the ground floor and basement of the property were visited by John Grayson, an investigative reporter and housing academic at openDemocracy, last week.

Carole, an asylum seeker from West Africa, told Mr Grayson that her and her 11-month-old son Nathan had been bitten by bedbugs.

“Serco said they could not find them, but they did not change the mattress — just put plastic on it,” she said.

The basement where they lived was allegedly plagued with damp, which made her worried about Nathan’s breathing, as he is asthmatic.

“I am on medication all the time, but it is the damp and Nathan and his breathing I am really worried about”, she told Mr Grayson.

She added she was unable to sleep due to mice running around her bed in the middle of the night. She showed openDemocracy a dead mouse and cockroaches stuck to a glue trap she pulled out of a bin.

Carole also voiced fears about the kitchen above them on the ground floor, which allegedly showed evidence of water leakage from the floors above.

“If there was a fire in the kitchen I could not get up these stairs with Nathan past the kitchen. I would have to climb up through the window which is below ground and all bars,” she said.

She added: “The ceiling leaks when upstairs use the baths and showers. We need buckets.”

Jenni Halliday, Serco’s contract director for asylum accommodation, told The Independent: “The day after these issues about this property were raised it was immediately visited by Serco’s area manager and housing officer.

"The property passed all compliance regulations and local authority property standards... Serco follows strict compliance guidelines laid down by the Home Office and local authorities."

She continued: “Problems with pests have been identified at the property and a number of visits have been conducted by pest control specialists as part of a programme to eradicate the problem. Additional steps have also now been taken.

“Our maintenance department experts inspected the flat and found that there is no damp.”

Carole showed openDemocracy letters from her doctor and health visitor, who had both asked Serco to move her and Nathan into other accommodation.

“The man from Serco comes, once or twice a week. He says he reports everything but people above him do nothing,” she said.

Pamela, an asylum seeker from South Asia, told the organisation the “really big” cockroaches were on the ground floor, where she and her son live.

“I came here nearly two years ago. Paul my son is nearly two and he was a few months old then. Carole’s baby has spent his whole life down there. I think it is worse for them.”

Shadow immigration minister and local MP Afzal Khan, said: “The description of conditions in this house is shocking. Nobody, let alone families with children, should be forced to live with cockroaches, bed bugs, damp, leaks and mice.

“Unfortunately we know that this is not an isolated case. Our asylum accommodation system is not fit for purpose. It is unacceptable that in 21st century Britain, people fleeing war and persecution are routinely housed in appalling and at times unsafe conditions.”

Ms Halliday said the company took its responsibilities towards its "vulnerable" tenants "extremely seriously” and that it always looked into concerns over properties.

“We are absolutely confident that the overwhelming majority of our service users are in housing of a decent standard and as required by the contract,” she said of the 5,000 asylum properties it looks after in northwest England and Scotland.

"This is the most heavily inspected social accommodation in the UK, with every property inspected at least once a month.”

Last year, a parliamentary committee published a highly critical report of the government’s COMPASS contracts, which farm out responsibility to house asylum seekers to private firms. The present holders of the contracts are Serco, G4S and Clearsprings.

The home affairs select committee said the “rat-infested” conditions in which 38,000 asylum seekers were housed in Britain while waiting for their refugee claims to be decided were “disgraceful”.

It called for an overhaul of the system after hearing evidence of some families living in homes infested with mice, rats and bedbugs. The report documented the experience of a torture survivor, who said the presence of rats triggered flashbacks to the cell where he was detained and tortured.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are clear that our contractors should provide asylum accommodation that is safe, habitable and fit for purpose. We demand the highest standards from our contractors and their accommodation and monitor them closely to ensure this is maintained.

“We urgently investigate any complaint we receive that a contractor is falling short of these standards. Where there is evidence that this is the case, we work with providers to ensure issues are quickly addressed and when they are not we can and do impose sanctions.”

Lawyers have also warned immigrants are being left to "languish" in removal centres for months on end after being granted bail because the Home Office is refusing to fulfil its duty to provide asylum accommodation, claiming emergency housing is “not dissimilar” to detention.

The Independent has been made aware of cases where immigrants with the right to be in the UK are denied housing, meaning they cannot be released. In other cases vulnerable asylum seekers have been released onto the streets with no accommodation.