Free taxis for migrants visiting the GP are set to be scrapped as the Home Office seeks to cut a huge £15.8 million transport bill.
It comes after a BBC investigation found migrants had travelled huge distances at the taxpayer’s expense for a medical check-up.
In one case, an asylum seeker billed the Home Office £600 for a 250-mile journey to see a GP for a check-up on his knee.
The Home Secretary then launched an urgent review and has now confirmed the system will be scrapped from February.
Currently the asylum seekers are given a weekly bus pass but are forced to use taxis for any NHS appointments, which are automatically booked through hotel receptions.
Under new rules the taxis will only be used for rare cases such as disability, serious illness or pregnancy. Any journey where a taxi is used will now require sign off from the Home Office.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told BBC News: ‘I am ending the unrestricted use of taxis by asylum seekers for hospital appointments, authorising them only in the most exceptional circumstances.
‘I will continue to root out waste as we close every single asylum hotel.’
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has axed free taxi rides for asylum seekers visiting their GP
One asylum seeker billed the Home Office £600 for a 250-mile journey to see a GP for a check-up on his knee. Pictured: Migrants in the English Channel
It comes as part of a wider crackdown on asylum costs and transport contracts, with more than £74 million already recovered from providers.
Officials said ending taxi services for migrants will save more money to taxpayers.
The government has pledged to end the use of asylum hotels by the next election and want to increase the use of large alternative accommodation.
However the number of asylum seekers living in hotels at the taxpayers’ expense has jumped to more than 36,000, the highest level for nearly two years.
New data from the Home Office showed 36,273 migrants were in hotel accommodation at the end of September, up 4,232 from 32,041 at the end of June.
In all there were 111,651 people receiving taxpayer-funded asylum support, an increase of nearly 5,600 in three months but below the peak of just under 124,000 hit in September 2023.
The Home Office said a record 110,051 people claimed asylum in the UK in the year ending to September.
It was up 13 per cent on the previous year and seven per cent more than the previous peak of 103,081 in 2002.
Ending the use of taxis is part of a move to cut a huge £15.8 million transport bill. File image
This made it a new record high after a previous figure of 111,000 for the year to June was revised down slightly.
Military barracks such as Cameron Barracks in Inverness and Crowborough Camp in East Sussex were due to start housing migrants on December 1.
However the plans have now stalled due to the sites not being made safe.
MDP Wethersfield in Essex and Napier Barracks in Kent are also set to be new locations to house migrants.
